*•••%; 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


LIBRARY 

OT7 


PRIMPIA  OR  BASIS 

OF 

SOCIAL    SCIENCE 

BEING  A  SURVEY  OF  THE  SUBJECT   FROM  THE  MORAL  AND 

THEOLOGICAL,   YET   LIBERAL   AND    PROGRESSIVE 

STANDPOINT. 

BY  R.   J.  WRIGHT. 
Second  Edition,  Crown  8vo.,  Cloth,  Price,  $2.00. 

Published  by  J,  B,  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO,, 

and  '717  Market  Street,  Philadelphia. 


The  following  notices  of  this  work  are  selected  from  a  larger 
number  that  might  be  offered. 


The    Philadelphia    u  PUBLIC    LED 
GER"  says, 

"  A  work  which  is  the  result  of  an 
evidently  long  and  patient  study  of 
Comte's,  Carey's,  Paley's,  Spencer's, 
Mulford's,  Mill's,  Guizot's,  and  Fou 
rier's  writings  on  cognate  subjects, 
although  it  differs  essentially  in 
method  and  matter  from  all  of  them." 

The  Philadelphia   "EVENING  BUL 
LETIN"  says, 

*  *  *  "  It  is  evidently  a  work  of 
immense  labor,  and  of  a  good  deal 
of  originality.  But  to  give  any  idea 
of  its  character  would  be  difficult  in 
a  newspaper  notice,  and  we  content 
ourselves  with  calling  attention  to  it 
as  a  work  that  deserves  examination 
by  all  those  who  take  an  interest  in 
that  very  capacious  and  comprehen 
sive  branch  of  modern  philosophy 
which  goes  by  the  name  of  social 
science." 


cer,  Mulford,  J.  S.  Mill,  and  Fourier, 
but  is  also  the  first  of  a  series." 

Der  deutsche  "PHILADELPHIA  DEM- 

OKRAT"  sagt, 

tl  Dies  Werk  ist  in  seiner  Art  eine 
No  vita  t  in  der  Literatur  der  Social- 
Wissenchaft.  *  *  *  Der  Verfasser 
sagt,  dass  man  bisher  die  Social- 
Wissenchaft,  obgleich  sie  in  ihrem 
innersten  Wesen  '  Moral'  sei,  aus- 
schliesslich  den  l  Unglaubigen'  und 
den  Socialisten  liberlassen  habe  5 
dass  er  dagegen  sein  national-b'kono- 
misches  Werk  im  Interesse  der  offen- 
barten  und  uberlieferten  Religion 
verfasst,  es  aber  nichts  destoweniger 
von  einem  liberalen  und  progres- 
siven  Standpunkt  aus  geschrieben 
habe.  Die  Quellen  aus  denen  er  am 
Meisten  geschopf't,  und  die  Autoren, 
deren  Werke"  [ausser  den  oben- 
genannten,]  "ervorzuchsweise  seiner 
Arbeit  zu  Grunde  gelegt,  fiihrt  er  in 
der  nachstehenden  Reihenfolge  auf, 
namlich :  die  Bibel,  Appletpns'  En- 
cyclopadie,  Wheaton,  Ruskin,  Ten- 
nison,  Guizot,  De  Tocqueville,  F. 

/~*  ci    i   i     ;  _     .         -l TlT^i/^l^^U.  . 


The  Philadelphia  "  PRESS"  says, 

il  WQ  cannot  begin  to  give  even  the 
briefest  summary  of  a  book  which 
not  only  differs  in  many  points  from 
Comte,  Carey,  Paley,  Herbert  Spen-  1  Cooper,  Schleiermacher,  Me' Cosh: 


NOTICES. 


und  NordhofFs  Monographic  der 
Communisten  Gemeinden  in  den  Yer. 
Staaten. 

'•  Wenn  auch  von  unentschieden 
religiosen,  und  zwar  christlichen 
Standpunkt  aus  gesehrieben,  halt 
sich  das  Werk  doch  ganzlich  frei 
von  Mysticismus,  und  es  gipfelt  das 
System  des  Verfassers  folgerichtig 
in  Communismus  ;  allerdings  nicht 
in  dem  von  Cabot,  und  noch  weniger 
in  dem  der  Pariser  '  Commune,'  son- 
dern  in  einem  durch  '  Religion'  und 
'Moral'  limitirten  Communismus. 

"  Obwohl  der  Verfasser  schwerlich 
National-Oekonornen  zu  seiner  neuen 
Lehre  bekehren  wird,  so  ist  sein 
Werk  immerhin  interessant  und  ver- 
dient  gelesen  zu  werden." 

TRANSLATION.  The  "  PHILADELPHIA 
GERMAN  DEMOCRAT"  says, 

"  This  work  is  in  its  manner  a 
novelty  in  the  literature  of  Social 
Science.  The  author  says  that  until 
now  Social  Science,  although  moral 
in  its  inmost  nature,  has  been  left 
*  *  *  to  the  infidels  and  Socialists ; 
but  that  he,  on  the  contrary,  has 
composed  his  national-economical 
work  in  the  interest  of  revealed  and 
traditional  religion,  but  that,  never 
theless,  he  has  written  it  from  a 
liberal  and  progressive  standpoint. 
The  sources  from  which  he  has  de 
rived  most,  and  the  authors  whose 
works  he  has  principally  used  as  a 
basis  for  his  labor"  [in  a'ddition  to 
those  above  mentioned,]  "he  gives 
in  the  following  order,  *  *  *  namely, 
the  Bible,  Appleton's  Encyclopedia, 
Wheaton,  Ruskin,  Tennyson, Guizot, 
De  Tocqueville,  J.  F.  Cooper,  Schlei- 
ermacher,  Mc'Cosh  ;  and  NordhofTs 
Monograph  of  the  Communistic  so 
cieties  of  the  United  States. 

"  Though  the  work  has  been  writ 
ten  from  an  undetermined"  [or  un 
denominational]  "  religious,  and, 
certainly  Christian  standpoint,  yet 
it  remains  entirely  free  from  mysti 
cism  ;  and  it  logically  crowns  the 
system  of  the  author  with  Commun 
ism  ; — to  be  sure  not  with  the  Com 
munism  of  Cabot,  and  still  less  with 
that  of  the  Paris  Commune,  but  with 
a  Communism  limited  by  Religion 
ai:d  Morality. 


"  Though  the  author  will  scarcely 
convert  National-Economists  to  his 
new  doctrine,  yet  his  work  is  never 
theless  interesting  and  deserves  to 
be  read." 

The  Philadelphia   "  CHRISTIAN   IN 
STRUCTOR"  says, 

"  This  large  and  well-published 
work  is  evidently  the  result  of  much 
thought  and  labor  on  the  part  of  the 
author.  It  is  an  earnest  discussion 
of  the  whole  subject  of  Social 
Science,  and  while  in  many  of  his 
views  he  is  of  the  school  of  Cornte, 
Fourier,  Spencer,  John  S.  Mill  and 
the  like,  he  stands  on  far  higher  and 
better  ground  every  way,  and  gives 
one  of  the  most  instructive  and  in 
viting  presentations  of  the  subject, 
and  one  of  the  least  exceptionable 
that  has  probably  been  laid  before 
the  public.  In  preparing  it  he  says 
his  earnest  desire  was  to  contribute 
his  mite  towards  theChristianization 
of  politics,  the  promotion  of  real 
freedom  and  progress,  and  the  im 
provement  of  society.  *  *  *  While 
however  we  say  all  this,  we  think 
the  book  is  one  of  the  best  of  the 
kind,  and  may  well  be  read  by  any 
who  are  interested  in  the  subject  of 
which  it  treats." 

The  ''PRESBYTERIAN"  of  Philadel 
phia  says, 

"  This  is  a  weighty  book,  not  easily 
read,  and  not  easy  satisfactorily  to 
notice.  The  writer  believes  in  the 
possibility  of  a  '  Social  Science,'  but 
differs  in  many  respects  from  Comte, 
Spencer,  and  other  writers  on  the 
subject.  He  believes  in  the  scien 
tific  value  cf  Ethics,  Metaphysics, 
and  Religion,  which  Comte  declined 
to  consider  parts  of  Positive  Science. 
He  also  believes  in  communism,  but 
not  in  a  vulgar  communism,  but 
communism  placed  on  the  basis  of 
Christian  kindness  and  benevolence. 
*  *  *  The  sayings  of  Jesus  on  the 
mount  and  other  of  his  discourses, 
the  writer  thinks  applicable  only  to 
a  Christian  Commune,  and  in  his 
ideal  commune,  all  these  principles 
are  to  be  predominant." 
"THE  FRANKFORB  HERALD"  of  Phil 
adelphia  says, 

"Principia    or    Basis    of    Social 


NOTICES. 


Science.  By  Robert  J.  Wright  of 
Tac  my.  This  volume,  which  bears 
the  imprint  of  Messrs.  J.  B.  Lippin- 
cott  and  Co.,  has  the  following  dedi 
cation  :  '  To  the  memory  of  my  dear 
departed  sister,  Josephine  Amanda 
Wright :  by  whose  sell-sacrifice,  unto 
death,  I  was  enabled  to  survive,  and 
to  work,  and  to  produce  these  and 
other  writings:  this  work  is  affec 
tionately  and  reverently  dedicated 
by  her  living  monument  R.  J.  W.' 

"  The  author  reviews  the  works  of 
Comte,  Carey,  Paley,  Spencer,  Mul- 
ford,  Mill,  Guizot,  Fourier,  and 
others.  He  gives  his  object  in  pub 
lishing  this  volume  as  follows." 
I  Then  follows  page  vn  from  the  book 
itself.] 

"  THE  FRANKFORD  AND  HOLMESBURG 

GAZETTE''  says, 

"  We  have  received  a  copy  of  the 
above  interesting  work.  A  hasty 
glance  over  its  neatly-printed  pages, 
reveals  many  new  and  perhaps 
strange  doctrinal  points  to  us,  but 
are  nevertheless  based  upon  reason 
able  grounds,  and  are  indicative  of 
the  daep  study  and  research  of  the 
author.  The  lalter  has  subdivided 
his  work  into  five  sections  or  books, 
to  wit:  I.  Summary  Introduction  to 
Social  Science ;  II.  The  Precinct  •, 
III.  The  Nation;  IV.  Corporation; 
V.  Limited  Communism.  There,  is 
much  in  its  pages  to  interest  the 
theorist,  and  we  therefore  ask  for  the 
reading  of  the  book,  in  order  that  its 
true  merits  may  be  known. " 

PROF.  GEORGE  ALLEN,  of  the  Univer 
sity  of  Pennsylvania,  at  Philadel 
phia,  says, 

*  *  *  u  I  was  hardly  less  surprised 
than  gratified,  by  the  presentation  of 
your  remarkable  work.  Your  book 
so  attractive  in  its  table  of  contents, 
and  obviously  upon  the  merest  in 
spection,  so  original  in  its  treatment 
of  each  topic,  *  *  *  has  attracted  me 
*  *  *  powerfully.  *  *  *  I  have  been 
able  to  gratify  my  eager  curiosity  only 
in  part.  I  hope  to  do  better  for  my 
self  soon.  In  the  meanwhile  allow 
me  to  express  my  gratification  at  the 
prominence  you  give  to  your  firm 
and  full  belie*f  in  Revelation,  and  at 
the  fairness  and  liberality  with  which 


you  speak  of  religious  organizations 
not  your  own  *  *  *." 
REV.  D.  C.  MILLETT.  D.D.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

"  I  have  not  read  it  through  as  yet, 
but  have  gone  far  enough  to  appre- 
c:ate  its  value,  and  hope  some  time 
to  talk  it  over  with  you  in  propria 
persona." 

REV.  D.  S.  MILLER,  D.D.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

li  I  am  glad  to  hear  of  you  as  still 
engaged  in  study  and  speculation 
upon  great  themes.  *  *  *  I  do  not 
doubt  it  to  be  the  fruit  of  earnest  la 
bor  and  thought ;  and  the  affection 
ate  dedication  of  it  to  the  memory 
of  your  dear  departed  sister,  and  my 
friend,  is  very  grateful  to  me." 
REV.  THOMAS  MURPHY,  D.D.,  of  Phil 
adelphia,  says, 

li  I  have  derived  a  great  deal  of 
informal  -n  from  your  book." 
REV.  Z.  M.  HUMPHREY,  D.D.,  of  Phil 
adelphia,  says, 

"  It  bears  the  marks  of  most  care 
ful  preparation,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  it  will  prove  of  great  value.  *** 
A  more  leisurely  examination  of 
the  work  may  call  out  a  more  ma 
ture  expression  of  opinion  as  to  its 
merits." 

REV.  ABEL  C.  THOMAS,  of  Philadel 
phia,  says, 

"  I  hope  to  read  your  disquisition 
with  both  eyes  open.  Confessedly 
it  will  require  close  attention  in  the 
perusal." 

MRS.   M.   L.   THOMAS,  of  Philadel 
phia,  says, 

"Allow  me  to  express  the  great 
interest  I  have  found  in  reading  your 
Principia.  *  *  *  Your  views  of  the 
great  problems  of  human  and  divine 
government  are  broad  and  many- 
sided,  and  such  as  mark  the  profound 
scholar  and  the  earnest  thinker. 
Hoping  that  the  \vorld  you  are  striv 
ing  to  enlighten  may  yet  enter  into 
a  comprehension  of  the  eternal  prin 
ciples  of  truth  as  you  present  them, 
I  am,"  &c. 

HENRY  J.  WILLIAMS,  ESQ.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

"  I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for 
the  beautiful  book.  *  *  *  I  have  not 


NOTICES. 


yet  read  it,  but  hope  soon  to  do  so ; 
and  will  then  transfer  it  to  a  public 
library  which  I  have  established  at 
Chestnut  Hill,  where  it  will  be  pre 
served  safely." 

EX-MAYOR   ALEXANDER    HENRY,   of 

Philadelphia,  says, 
"I  *  *  ~;:'  shall  take  pleasure  in  its 
perusal — and  judging  from  a  glance 
at  its  contents,  doubt  not  that  it  vrill 
a-7ord  much  valuable  information." 
D.  W.  SELLERS,  ESQ.,  of  Philadel 
phia,  says, 

*  *  *  "  from  the  reading  of  which 
during  the  coming  fall  I  anticipate 
pleasure  and  instruction." 

JOHN  B.  COLAHAN,  ESQ.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

*  *  *  "  from  the  perusal  of  which 
I  expect  to  derive  much  information 
on  the  subjects  treated  ;  *  *  *  a  val 
uable    addition     doubtless    to    the 
sources  of  knowledge." 

JOHN  D.  LANKENAU,  ESQ.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

"I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  the  tender  of  your  book  on  social 
science.  *  *  *  My  best  acknowledg 
ments  for  your  courtesy. — With  the 
greatest  respect,"  &c. 
WM.  F.  GUERNSEY,  M.D.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

"  I  am  pleased  with  your  views 
arguments  and  conclusions.  All  is 
free  from  censure  or  egotism.  I  wish 
it  might  be  read  by  all.  You  have 
my  thanks  for  the  volume :  and 
thanks  for  your  labors  in  producing 
so  valuable  a  work." 
H.  J.  DOUCET,  M.D.,  of  Philadel 
phia,  says, 

"  Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on 
the  completion  of  your  great  under 
taking-:  hoping  that  your  health  and 
life  may  be  preserved  so  that  you 
may  be  able  to  fulfil  the  promise  *  *  * 
I  shall  take  the  liberty  at  some  fu 
ture  day  to  make  some  criticisms." 
R.  PATTERSON,  ESQ.,  of  Philadelphia, 
says, 

"  I  am  sincerely  thankful  for  your 
sending  me  your  work  on  Social  Sci 
ence,  which  I  doubt  not  I  shall  read 
with  deep  interest.  Already  I  have 
concluded  a  study  of  the  special  di 
vision  of  '  Limited  Communism,' 


which  I  find  full  of  suggestions  and 
originality  in  treatment." 

M.  W.  WOODWARD,  ESQ.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

II  The  dedication  of  it  affords  me 
a  very  gratified  remembrance  of  your 
lovely  but  not  forgotten  sister." 

CHARLES  SANTEE,  ESQ.,  of  Philadel 
phia,  says, 

II 1  doubt  not  it  will  amply  repay 
for  all  the  time  necessary  to  become 
fully  acquainted  with    its  contents. 
Tho  dedication  of  it  to  your  departed 
sister  has  revived  my  recollection  of 
her  faithful  labors  *  *  *." 

ELLIS  CLARK,  ESQ.,  of  Philadelphia, 
says, 

"  I  promise  myself  great  pleasure 
in  a  more  thorough  perusal." 
The  Pittsburgh  "CHRISTIAN  ADVO 
CATE"  says, 

*  *  *  «  go  far  as  we  know,  the  au 
thor  of  the  present  volume  is  the 
only  man  who  has  pretended  to  con 
sider  this  science  from  a  distinctively 
Christian  point  of  view.  As  the 
Positivists  have  hitherto  given  it  the 
most  attention,  it  has  received  a  skep 
tical  turn.  The  author  calls  special 
notice  to  his  point  of  view.  His  vol 
ume,  the  first  of  a  series  relating  to 
Social  Science,  contains  five  books, 
entitled  respectively,  Introduction, 
Precinct,  Nat'on,  Corporation,  Lim 
ited  Communism.  In  it  he  has  writ 
ten  for  the  people  rather  than  for 
philosophers,  and  has  adopted  a  style 
at  once  simple,  direct  and  forcible. 
There  is  little  in  it  that  an  ordinarily 
intelligent  reader  will  not  under 
stand,  and  must  understand  before 
he  can  see  the  causes  of  the  compli 
cations  and  corruptions  of  our  politi 
cal  and  social  life." 
The  Pittsburgh  "  PRESBYTERIAN 
BANNER"  says, 

"This  is  an  elaborate  work,  evi 
dently  prepared  by  one  earnestly 
anxious  to  instruct  his  fellow-men 
and  do  good  to  them.  He  grapples 
with  the  most  complicated  problems 
in  social  and  political  life,  and  sets 
forth  the  remedy  for  many  of  our 
present  ills  in  a  life  which  he  himself 
admits  to  be  an  ideal  one.  Much  of 
the  reasoning  is  sound,"  *  *  * 


NOTICES. 


WM.  E.  BARBER,  ESQ.,  Westchester, 
Pa.,  says^ 

*  *  *  il  I  have  been  impressed  by 
the   perspicuity  and   systematic  ar 
rangement  of  its  contents,  and  the 
originality  of  your  views  upon  the 
topics  discussed,  and  I  am  satisfied 
that   you  have  opened  up  veins  of 
thought  which  are  fraught  with  re 
sults  of  the  highest  importance  to 
the  well-being  of  society.     *  *  *  I 
earnestly   trust    that    you   will    be 
spared  to  continue  your  thoughtful 
investigations  *  *  *." 

REV.  PROF.  JOSEPH  STEVENS,  Jersey 
Shore ,  Pa.,  says, 

*  *  *  "  Your    elaborate  work   on 
Social  Science  *  *  *  I  feel   gratified 
as  the  result  of  my  examination,  to 
be    able    to    commend    your  work 
highly.    It  must  have  cost  you  much 
time  and  labor;  and  the  department 
of  science  which  it  handles,  being 
comparatively  new  and  undeveloped 
must  have  rendered  your  task  all  the 
more   arduous.     But   you   seem   to 
have  accomplished  your  undertaking 
thoroughly  and  well." 

REV.  A.  A.  LIVERMORE,  D.D.,  Pres. 

Meadville  Theological  School,  Pa., 

says, 

*  "  Your  learned  and  elaborate 
work  Principia.  *  *  *  I  am  sure  by 
a  look  at  its  table  of  contents  that 
it  will  repay  a  careful  examination." 
PROF.  J.  H.  DILLINGHAM,  of  Haver- 
ford  College,  Pa.,  says, 

"  I  much  regret  the  long  delay  ap 
parent  in  sending  thee  the  acknowl 
edgment  of  the  receipt  of  thy  very 
interesting  work.  *  *  *  I  hope  soon 
to  obtain  time  to  read  the  work,  con 
nected  as  it  is  with  my  own  depart 
ment  of  instruction." 
REV.  W.  F.  P.  NOBLE,  Chester  Co., 
Pa.,  says, 

"  I  hasten  to  acknowledge  your 
noble  book,  *  *  *  You  thinkers 
should  publish  minutes,  like  eccle 
siastics,  telling  where  you  can  be 
found." 

PROF.  TRAIL   GEREN,  M.D.,  Lafay 
ette  College,  Easton,  Pa.,  says, 

*  *  "  I  am  glad  to  find  so  much 
that  points  to  a  higher  relationship 
of  the  subject  than  I  have  seen  in 
the  works  of  other  writers  on  Social 


Science.  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
return  to  it  when  I  have  more  lei 
sure." 

REV.  SELDEN  J.  COFFIN,  Prof,  of 
Mathematics  Lafayette  College, 
says, 

*  *  *  "A  beautiful  volume.  «  Prin 
cipia,'  bearing  your  name  so  mod 
estly  on  the  title-page  *  *  *.  Dr. 
Green  and  I  were  each  touched  by 
the  Dedication.  You  are  to  be  con 
gratulated  on  the  serviceable  com 
pletion  of  so  solid  a  piece  of  labor." 

The  "NEW  YORK  WORLD"  says, 
"  The  author  of  this  remarkably 
original  treatise  informs  us  in  his 
preface  that  among  the  *  *  *  effects 
of  the  great  rebellion  was  the  turn 
ing  of  his  attention  to  politics,  and 
the  stimulation  of  his  ambition  to 
promote  the  Christianization  thereof 
by  producing  '  a  volume  that  could 
safely  be  recommended  to  pious 
young  men.'  He  differs  from  Comte 
in  holding  that  '  metaphysics,  ethics 
and  religion'  are  branches  of  a  really 
'  positive  philosophy  ;'  from  Carey, 
in  subordinating  mercantile  or  finan 
cial  to  metaphysical  considerations, 
and  in  foreseeing  dire  consequences 
from  the  increasing  price  of  land 
and  the  approaching  over-population 
of  the  world;  Paley,  whilst  com 
mendable  for  writing  in  the  interests 
of  revealed  religion,  fails  to  give 
sufficient  weight  to  moral  instincts  ; 
Spencer  thinks  too  much  of  secular 
science  and  not  enough  of  religion  ; 
Mill  '  takes  too  much  the  commer 
cial  view  of  everything,'  and  is  l  too 
essentially  English  5'  Fourier  alone 
takes  a  wide  enough  scope,  and  even 
he  has  adopted  an  ideal  '  too  high 
for  the  common  world,  and  too  low 
for  the  higher  life.'  Above  physi 
cists  and  statesmen,  as  teachers  of 
social  science,  are  placed  theologians, 
and  next  to  theologians  are  ranked 
the  various  sorts  of  communists.  **  * 
His  ideal  is  *  *  *  Christian  commu 
nism  in  incomes,  labors  and  general 
life,  doing  to  others  perfectly  as  we 
would  be  done  by.  *  *  *  Human 
society  is  divided  into  six  component 
units — individual,  family,  social  cir 
cle,  precinct,  nation,  and  mankind  ; 
*  *  *  nations  should  be  split  up  into 


6 


NOTICES. 


very  small  precincts,  each  of  which 
should  have  the  utmost  internal 
liberty  and  self-government,  only 
being  restrained  by  a  praeterpluper- 
fect  national  government  from  tres 
passing  on  the  equal  liberty  of  other 
precincts.  Law  and  war  are  to  be 
replaced  by  arbitration  and  moral 
suasion  ;  *  *  *  and  certain  plentiful 
commodities  adopted  as  the  media  of 
exchange.  All  these  and  many  other 
details  are  elaborated  with  an  infi 
nite  amount  of  philosophical  argu 
mentation." 

The  New  York  "HEBREW  LEADER" 
says, 

"  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  Phila 
delphia,  have  just  issued  a  valuable 
work,  entitled  '  Principia ;  or  Basis 
of  Social  Science.'  *  *  *  The  author 
has  spent  several  years  of  profound 
thought  in  the  preparation  of  this 
work,  patiently  investigating  kin 
dred  subjects  by  such  writers  as 
Comte,  Carey,  Paley,  Spencer,  Mul- 
ford,  Mill,  Guizot,  and  Fourier,  and 
showing  wherein  he  differs  from 
them." 

The    "LIBERAL    CHRISTIAN,"    New 
York,  says, 

(l  On  page  19  we  are  told  that 
1  Social  Science  maybe  defined  to  be 
the  Philosophy  of  Politics  -,1  and  on 
page  20,  that  '  The  science  of  society 
is  the  science  of  the  dispensations  of 
Providence.'  Then  on  page  22  we 
are  asked  to  '  observe  the  rank  and 
grade  of  social  science  among  the 
four  most  general  sciences,  namely: 
Theology ,Metaphy  sics,  Sociology  and 
Mathematics.'  We  regret  that  Mr. 
Wright  has  not  furnished  a  classi 
fication  of  the  sciences  ;  but  he  com 
plains  of  want  of  space.  *  *  t  He 
hopes  '  that  if  the  public  cannot 
tolerate  these  writings  as  a  work  of 
science,  they  will,  at  any  rate,  toler 
ate  them  as  a  kind  of  sermons  to 
politicians  and  statesmen/  So  mote 
it  be." 

REV.    HENRY  W.   BELLOWS,   D.D., 
New  York,  says, 

«  I  *  #  *  h^  t0  have  time  in  the 
course  of  my  vacation  to  look  into 
it.  *  *  *  I  hope  to  receive  instruc 
tion  from  your  book,  and  am  grate 
fully  yours,"  &c. 


CHARLES  GOEPP,  ESQ.,  New   York, 

says, 

il  You  have  grappled  with  the  most 
interesting  of  all  subjects,  collected 
most  valuable  facts,  and  made  close 
research  into  recondite  principles. 
*  *  *  I  believe  that  the  best  grade 
of  German  scholars  would  appreciate 
your  work  as  well  as,  if  not  better 
than  any  English  ones.  *  *  *  It 
would  translate  well." 

E.  STEIGER,  ESQ.,  New  York,  says, 

"  It  is  encouraging  to  see  that  the 
momentous  questions  treated  in  your 
book  have  still  sufficient  attractions 
for  superior  minds  in  these  material 
days.  I  trust  that  the  great  labor 
you  have  undergone  in  writing  the 
work  will  be  duly  appreciated  by 
the  select  and  discriminating  public 
for  whose  information  it  was  writ 
ten." 

The  Brooklyn  "  NATIONAL  MONITOR" 
says, 

"  Social  Science  is  yet  in  its  in 
fancy,  and  he  who  fosters  it  into 
maturity,  or  searches  out  its  essential 
principia  underlying  the  multiplicity 
of  defective  social  systems,  and  brings 
them  to  the  front,  for  foundation 
stones'  on  which  the  ideal  social 
.  system  of  nature  and  reason  and 
revelation  may  be  reared,  will  ever 
be  remembered  with  gratitude  by 
society,  and  handed  down  to  suc 
ceeding  generations  as  society's 
greatest  benefactor.  *  *  * 

"  Not  however  for  this  renown 
does  the  author  of  the  elaborate  work 
before  us  seem  to  have  written.  His 
Principia  is  the  offspring  of  higher 
motives.  *  *  *  Each  book  is  appro 
priately  divided  into  chapters  and 
sections,  thus  taking  up  every  dis 
tinct  theme  in  a  separate  chapter  and 
section,  so  as  to  afford  easy  reference 
as  a  text-book  on  social  science.  *  *  * 
Upon  the  whole,  the  author  has 
given  to  the  public  a  book  on  social 
science  that  will  be  to  society  a 
strong  push  in  the  right  direction." 
REV.  THOS.  K.  BEECHER,  D.D.,  El- 
mira,  N.  Y.,  says, 

*  *  *  "is  not  mistaken  in  suppos 
ing  me  to  be  specially  interested  in 
such  lines  of  thought  and  observa 
tion.  From  a  reading  of  the  first 


NOTICES. 


35  or  40  pp.  I  perceive  already  that  I 
you  and  I  have  many  things  in  com-  j 
mon.     My  only  hesitation  is  based  j 
on  what  may  be  called  the  inertia 
of  ignorance.     When  you  and  other 
thinkers  have  solved  the  problem  of 
a  perfect  social  order,  you  will  then 
have  come  only  to  where  Jesus  Christ 
was  Eighteen  Hundred  years  ago, 
*  *  *  I  assure  you  of  my  thanks  *  *  * 
for  a  work  of  such  scope  and  Chris 
tian  wisdom." 
REV.    AUSTIN    CRAIG,   D.D.,    Pres. 

Christian  Biblical  Institute,  Stan- 
fordville,  N.  Y.,  says, 

*  *  *  "  Outwardly  as  well  as  in 
wardly  I  find  it  a  beautiful  book.  *  *  * 
It  is  full  of  good  thoughts — worthily 
expressed.  *  *  *  Your  spirit  seems 
excellent  every  where ;  and  (I  believe) 
your  work  was  (from  the  first)  an 
offering  to  God  and  man ;  and  so 
may  man  receive  it,  and  God  follow 
it  with  his  blessing." 
REV.  PROF.  C.  W.  NASSAU,  D.D., 
Lawrenceville,  N.  J.,  says, 

"  You  have  my  sincere  good  wishes 

for  success  to  a  work  which  has  cost 

you  so  many  years  of  patient  labor.'.' 

PROF.  RyP.  STEBBINS,  D.D.,  Cornell 

University,  says, 

"I  shall  read  it  during  my  vaca 
tion.     The  table  of  contents  gives 
some  very  important  topics." 
REV.PETERB.  llEROY,Bedford,N.  Y., 
says, 

11 1  was  never  more  surprised  than 
to  receive  your  valuable  book.  *  *  * 
Jt  must  have  been  the  work  of  your 
life.  I  intend,  as  I  have  time  from 
my  ministerial  labors,  to  read  it ; 
and  the  more  so  as  coming  from  the 
heart  and  intellect  of  one  so  well 
beloved  in  other  days." 

REV.    CHARLES   A.  BECK,    Milford, 

N.  J.,  says, 

"  I  consider  the  subject  as  one  of 
the  highest  importance.  *  *  *  If 
there  are  errors  in  treating  it,  still 
we  are  to  be  thankful  there  is  strug 
gling  toward  the  right.  *  *  *  I  have 
no  doubt  I  will  be  deeply  interested 
in  reading  it." 

REV.  WM.  H.  PITTMAN,   Hopewell, 

N.  /.,  says, 
11  It  is  a  book  of  great  merit,  a 


valuable  addition  to  American  and 
Christian  literature :  it  is  a  book  that 
every  minister  and  statesman  ought 
to  have.  *  *  *  Every  subject  and 
division  is  made  plain." 

The  Boston  "  ZION  HERALD"  says, 

u  This  volume  *  *  *  is  a  conscien 
tious  and  thoughtful  effort  to  solve 
the  problem  of  the  best  conditions 
for  man's  social  well-being.  The 
writer  has  read  widely,  and  criticises 
without  hesitation  the  systems  of 
Comte,  Spencer,  Fourier,  and  J.  S. 
Mill.  He  illustrates  freely  his  own 
themes  from  the  whole  breadth  of 
social  science  literature.  The  out 
come  of  all  his  thinking,  large  por 
tions  of  which  are  very  suggestive 
and  valuable.  *  *  *  The  evident 
sincerity,  honesty,  and  hearty  con 
viction  of  the  author  constantly  im 
presses  you ;  *  *  *  the  book  amply 
repays  the  reading,  by  its  wholesome 
suggestions  upon  many  subordinate 
themes  relating  to  social  develop 
ment,  public  health  and  morals,  in 
ternational  intercourse,  and  the  re 
moval  of  the  great  evils  that  now 
press  upon  society." 

The  "BOSTON  GLOBE"  says, 

*  *  *  "  The   author   admits   that 
Herbert  Spencer  is  the  King  of  the 
Social    Scientists.      *  *  *  Fourier's 
Ideal  is  said  to  be  too  high  lor  the 
common  world  and  too  low  for  the 
higher   life;     The   author  considers 
that  society  is  held  together  by  and 
happiness  in  it  depends  upon,  Love 
of  the  other  sex,  Acquaintanceship, 
Material  or  business  interests,  Edu 
cation,  its  interests  and  its  literature, 
Goodness,   namely,  doing  justice  to 
others,  and  forbearance  under  injus 
tice,  real   or   apparent.     There  are 
some  excellent  ideas  in  this  volume. 
*  *  *  The  book  is  well  worth  read 
ing,  though  its  advanced  views  will 
hardly  find  acceptance  among  prac 
tical  statesmen." 

The  "BOSTON  TRANSCRIPT"  says, 

*  *  *  "  In  his  preface  the  author 
briefly  compares  the  principal  char 
acteristics   of  his  work  with   those 
of    Comte,    Carey,   Paley,   Spencer, 
Mulford,  Mill,  Guizot  and  Fourier, 
stating  wherein  he  differs  from  the 


8 


NOTICES. 


theories  advanced  by  them,  and  ac 
knowledges  his  indebtedness  for  en 
couragement  and  aid,  to  the  Bible, 
Appletons'  Cyclopedia,  Wheatonj 
Kuskin,  Tennyson,  Guizot,  De  Toc- 
queville,  J.F.  Cooper,  Schleiermacher 
and  Me' Cosh,  and  to  Ballou,  Nord- 
hoff  and  various  writers,  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  on  natural  theology, 
theism,  communism,  and  the  higher 
life  of  the  Individual  Soul.  *  *  * 
Enough  has  been  stated  to  show  the 
formidable  nature  of  the  task  which 
the  author  has  undertaken.  To  ex 
plain  and  illustrate  his  manner  of 
executing  it  would  occupy  columns 
instead  of  paragraphs." 

The  Boston"  LITERARY  WORLD"  says, 
"A  very  formidable-looking  vol 
ume  is  R.  J.  Wright's  '  Principia ;  or 
Basis  of  Social  Science'.  *  *  *  To 
ascertain  by  careful  perusal  the  char 
acter  and  purpose  ot  this  work  would 
be  a  task  of  no  little  magnitude,  and 
to  record  one's  discoveries  would  be 
a  still  greater  one.  We  despair  of 
conveying  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
contents  of  this  ponderous  volume, 
and  refer  our  readers  to  the  book 
itself." 

The  "BOSTON  JOURNAL"  says, 
"  The  author  *  *  *  explains  in  his 
preface  the  points  on  which  he  differs 
from  Comte,  Carey,  Paley,  Spencer, 
Mulford,  Mill  and  Fourier.  The  last 
named  he  regards  as  wide,  rambling, 
and  almost  wild  in  his  analogies  and 
range  of  topics  ;  and  the  scope  of  the 
other  writers  is  too  contracted.  * 
The  author's  purpose  is  to  consider 
in  this  volume  the  fundamental  po 
litical  organic  principles,  which  in 
succeeding  volumes  he  will  apply  to 
the  solution  of  various  social  and 
political  problems.  The  work  is 
plainly  the  product  of  sincere  and 
laborious  thought,  *  *  *  it  has  a  cer 
tain  freshness  and  earnestness  of 
statement  which  will  incline  the 
reader  to  overlook  its  obvious  faults. 
*  *  *  His  sub-divisions  are  numer 
ous,  but  well  arranged  and  calculated 
to  assist  the  reader." 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS,  ESQ.,  says, 
"  Your  interesting  looking  volume 
came  yesterday.     I  have  only  time 
now  to  scan  its  table  of  contents — a 


rich  carte — and  I  hope  soon  to  find 
leisure  to  test  your  arguments.  Ac 
cept  my  sincere  thanks  for  the  oppor 
tunity.  These  are  to  be  the  questions 
of  the  coming  fifty  years,  and  every 
contribution  to  their  discussion  is 
valuable, — indeed,  as  you  suggest, 
the  highest  duty  of  a  citizen." 

MRS.  JULIA  WARD  HOWE  says, 
"  I  am  much  obliged  for  the  valu 
able  gift  *  *  *  your  '  Principia.'  The 
perusal  of  the  preface  *  *  *  has 
shown  me  that  its  scope  and  object 
are  in  sympathy  with  all  that  I  most 
reverence  in  the  present,  or  desire  for 
the  future.  I  intend  to  study  your 
work  carefully  *  *  *  what  appears 
to  me  so  well  planned  *  *  *". 
REV.  ADIN  BALLOU,  Hopedale,  Mass., 
says, 

*  *  #  «  your  able.  instructive  and 
valuable  work.     It  is  freighted  with 
thought,  knowledge  and  suggestion. 

*  *  *  I  have  read  what  little  I  con 
veniently  could  of  it  since  its  receipt, 
but  not  enough  to  criticise  worthily 
its  manifold  evolutions  of  data,  much 
less  to  master   its  system  of  prin 
ciples,  reasonings  and  conclusions." 
The  "LOUISVILLE  COMMERCIAL"  says, 

#  *  *  «  Of  a  work  so  elaborate  as 
this,  written   in   such  a  spirit  and 
treating  of  such  a  large  subject,  we 
prefer  not  to  express  a  decided  opin 
ion   without    a    more    careful    and 
thorough  examination  than  we  have 
been   able  to  give  it.     *  *  *   This 
volume  is  designed  to  give  the  'fun 
damental    political    organic   princi 
ples.'     *  *  *  He  has  tried  to  write 
such  a  book  that  all  liberal-minded 
people,  whatever  may  be  their  reli 
gious  or  political  views,  may  read  it 
without  pain  or  disturbance.     *  *  * 
A  book  written  in  such  a  spirit  and 
for  such  an  object  deserves  careful 
consideration,  no  less  than  its  size. 

*  *  *  Whatever  fate  Mr.  Wright's 
theories  may  meet  at  the  hands  of 
masters   and    competent    critics    in 
social  science,  he  has  certainly  pro 
duced  the  most  elaborate  and  high- 
reaching  and  thoughtful  work  on  his 
subject  that  has  appeared  from  an 
American  pen.     He  apologizes  ^for 
his  style,  *  *  *  As  a  whole,  it  is  a 
valuable  contribution  to  our  political 


NOTICES. 


9 


literature,  and  it  would  be  a  good 
thing  if  others  of  our  men  of  mind 
and  leisure  would  devote  themselves 
to  such  studies  as  those  of  Mr. 
Wright,  to  which  we  owe  this 
volume." 

The  "CINCINNATI  TIMES"  says, 
***  "A  ponderous  volume.  *  *  * 
We  wish  the  author  could  have  held  | 
himself  until  cold  weather — the  book 
is  too  big  a  job  for  us  at  the  present 
state  of  the  thermometer." 

The  "CINCINNATI  GAZETTE"  says, 
*  "  Mr.  Wright  *  *  *  asserts  *  *  * 
that  the  progress  of  the  human  race 
in  the  highest  aims  of  life,  is  too  un 
certain  of  proof,  to  l)e  made  tho  basis 
of  a  positive  science.  He  ""  *  *  aims 
to  elevate  politics  from  the  low- 
ground  which  they  have  occupied,  in 
our  country  especially,  by  pointing 
out  the  great  truths  which  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  national  existence.**  * 
We  can  only  sketch  the  outlines  of 
the  author's  design,  and  call  the  at 
tention  of  thoughtful  readers  to  his 
volume." 

u  HERALD  OF  GOSPEL  LIBERTY,"  Day 
ton,  O.j  says, 

li  A  review  of  this  book  leads  us 
to  commend  in  it  these  valuable 
features  :  1.  The  importance  of  the 
general  subject.  2.  Its  numerous 
but  appropriate  subdivisions,  em 
bracing  the  whole  field  of  Social 
Science.  *  *  *  3.  The  authors 
thorough,  steady,  patient,  and  com 
plete  investigation  of  his  theme. 

4.  His  peculiar,  natural,  and  acquired 
talents  for  investigating  and  discuss 
ing  the  subject,  and  for  reducing  it 
to  practical  rules  of  Christian  ethics. 

5.  The  evolving  from  the  metaphys 
ical  and  the  abstruse  of  his  subject, 
the  simplest  and  most  practical  moral 
rules  in  all  social,  civil,  and  religious 
relations.     6.  Such  an  arrangement 
and  relation  of  subjects,  as  well  as 
that  full  discussion  and  presentation 
of  all  its  features,  as  adapts  the  book 
to  a  general  want,  and  renders  it  of 
great  worth  —  the  book  embracing 
524  pages,  and  no  repetition.   Other 
points  deserve  commendation,  while 
in  a  few  things  only  is  the  work  open 
to  criticism.    *  *  *    But,  compared 
with  its  many  points  of  excellence, 


these  few  features  of  criticism  sink 
almost  from  sight." 

Contribution  to  "  HERALD  OF  GOSPEL 


LIBERTY 


says, 


"  The  subject  of  which  the  book 
treats,  *  *  *  is  at  present  command 
ing  the  attention  of  the  most  thought 
ful  and  studious  minds  of  this  and 
other  lands.  *  *  *  Wright  has  evi 
dently  devoted  much  careful  and 
patient  study  to  the  investigation  of 
the  whole  range  of  subjects  embraced 
in  his  theme,  and  has  talents  which 
fit  him  in  a  peculiar  manner  for  such 
a  work.  From  a  cursory  examina 
tion  of  its  pages,  we  are  led  to  be 
lieve  that  this  book  possesses  merits 
of  a  high  order,  and  which  should 
create  for  it  a  wide  demand.  *  *  *." 
D.  E.  MILLARD. 

"THE  INTERIOR,"  Chicago,  says, 
"  The  Principia  is  a  voluminous 
work  on  an  immense  subject.  The 
subject  embraces  all  the  relations 
existing  in  society,  and  thus  covers 
the  sciences  of  Law,  Government, 
Political  Economy,  and  Moral 
Science,  with  many  other  lines  of 
thought,  which  lie  in  the  field  of 
Philosophy.  The  author  pursues 
the  most  of  these  more  or  less  per 
sistently,  and  always  independently 
of  the  recognized  leaders,  Mill, 
Guizot,  iPaley,  Comte,  Spencer,  etc., 
and  in  combating  all  of  them  he 
brings  out  a  great  variety  of  sugges 
tions.  Indeed  the  work  under  the 
author's  plan  of  treatment  became 
a  kind  of  cyclopedia  of  social  science. 
*  *  *  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  author  is  radical  in  his  views 
throughout.  And  yet  it  is  just  this 
type  of  character  whose  workvs  it  is 
most  interesting,  and  in  one  sense 
most  profitable,  to  study.  His  de 
votion  to  a  theory,  and  the  earnest 
ness  and  zeal  of  his  researches  which 
result  from  that  devotion,  give  his 
discussions  the  interest  of  novelty 
as  well  as  originality,  often  giving 
the  reader,  by  suggestion,  an  entirely 
new  view  of  an  old  subject.  The 
style  is  strong  and  compact,  and  the 
work  will  be  found  a  good  invest 
ment  for  the  student  of  politics, 
law,  or  any  of  the  sciences  included 
under  the-general  subject." 


10 


NOTICES. 


The  u  CHICAGO  JOURNAL''  says, 

*  *  •*  it  The  writer  covers  a  great 
deal  of  ground,  giving  a  vast  amount 
of  valuable  information.    *  *  *    It 
contains   the    elements   of   a    good 
book." 

The  Springfield   "  DAILY  REPUBLI 
CAN"  says, 

*  *  *  "The  quality  of  his  culture 
may  be  seen  from    his  chapter  on 
theology   as   a   prerequisite   to   the 
study  of  social  science.     Among  his 
arguments  to  establish  this  relation 
is  the  statement  that  '  of  the  eminent 
men  of  the   Christian  world,  a  far 
larger  portion  of  them  are  found  to 
be  the  children  of  clergymen  than 
of  any  other  professionals  ;'  also  the 
fact  that  the  theologians,  Ximenes, 
Wolsey,    Richelieu,    Cranmer    and 
Talleyrand  became  the  best  and  fore 
most  political  statesmen  of  the  world, 
and  that  the  statesmanship  of  Rome, 
although  clerical,  '  is  acknowledged 
to  be  the  most  far-reaching  in  the 
world.'  " 

The  Chicago  "  TRIBUNE"  says, 

*  *  *  "  The  arrangement  *  *  *  of 
the  contents  is   unique;    so  is  the 
style :    so  is  the  punctuation.  *  *  * 
He  calls  especial  attention  to  it.  The 
following  sentence,   the  end  of  the 
preface,  may  serve  as  a  fair  example : 
'And  finally,  borrowing  an  idea  from 
Paley,  but  revising  it,  we  may  say, — 
that  we  cannot  see  why,  our  having 
done,  however  feebly,  yet  as  well  as 
we  were  able,  a  work  which  seemed 
to  be  very  much  needed,  —  should 
hinder  any  other  person  from  doing 
it  as  much  better  as  he  would  choose 
to.'  " 

REV.   G.  C.  HECKMAN,   D.D.,  Pres. 
of  Hanover  College,  Ind.,  says, 
"Principia  has  just  arrived.   Many 

thanks.     I  will  read  it  with  great 

interest  and  care." 

The  St.  Louis  u  GLOBE  DEMOCRAT" 

says, 

"  This  is  an  able  and  comprehen 
sive  survey  of  social  science,  from  a 
moral  and  theological,  and  yet  an 
exceedingly  liberal  and  progressive 
stand-point.  *  *  *  ]  ( rYes  its  volu 
minous  character,  it  is  a  deeply- 


philosophical  dissertation,  and  we 
adopt  the  author's  suggestion  not  to 
judge  it  positively  until  it  has  been 
carefully  considered,  *  *  *  we  are 
inclined  to  look  upon  it  as  a  valuable 
addition  to"  the  many  valuable  treat 
ises  which  we  already  have  upon  the 
engaging  subject  of  social  science." 
Gov.  C.  C.  CARPENTER  of  Iowa,  says, 

*  *  *  ''So  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  examine  the  book,  I  find  it  origi 
nal  in  thought  and  style,  and  I  be 
lieve  it  will  be  calculated  to  promote 
thought   and    investigation,    and  to 
greatly  increase  an  intelligent  com 
prehension   of  the  special   subjects 
upon  which  it  treats.    I  h(  pe  it  may 
be  generally  read  by  thinkers  upon 
social  questions,  and  that  you  may 
Have  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  the 
results  of  your  study  and  labor  in 
the  improvement  of  the  social  philo 
sophy  and  practical  methods  of  the 
age." 

PROF.  DANIEL  SCHINDLER,  Prof,  of 
Metaphysics  in  Michigan  Univer 
sity,  says, 

*  *  *  "  I  have  not  yet  had  time  to 
do  more  than  run  over  the  table  of 
contents,  and  here  and  there  to  open 
and  look  at  your  book.     I  have  seen 
and  read  enough,  however,  to  assure 
me  that  your  flow  is  individual,  and 
your   discussion    positive,  and   that 
you   have   made   genuine  contribu 
tions  toward    the  solution  of  some 
of    the   vexed    problems    of    Social 
Science.     I  shall   take    pleasure  in 
giving  the  Principia  a  careful  perusal 
during  my  vacation.     *  *  *  I  hope 
God  may  give  you  life  and  health  to 
complete  the  flood  of  work  you  have 
marked  out  for  yourself." 

L.  C.  DRAPER,  ESQ.,  Sec'y  of  the  State 
Hist.  Soc.  of  Wisconsin,  says, 

"  Our  librarian  has  acknowledged 
the  receipt  of  your  fine  volume.  We 
are  always  glad  to  add  such  to  our 
library.*** 

"I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you 
that  at  a  meeting  of  the  Exec.  Com. 
of  the  State  Hist.  Soc.  of  Wisconsin 
held  this  day,  you  were  unanimously 
elected  a  corresponding  member." 
REV.  GEORGE  D.  STEWART,  D.D., 
Omaha,  Neb.,  says, 

"I  think  the  book  evinces  much 


NOTICES. 


11 


careful  study  and  mastery  of  the 
problems  of  sociology.  *  *  *  The 
object  and  aim  are  worthy  of  your 
self,  and  should  commend  themselves 
to  every  man  who  lives  and  works 
in  the  Christian  spirit.  *  *  *  It  is  a 
fine  specimen  of  American  book- 
making  as  regards  the  mechanical 
execution.  It  is  good  for  tired  or 
strained  eyes.  The  dedication  is 
very  touching  to  all  of  us  who  know 
the  facts." 

The  Baltimore  "  METHODIST  PROTEST 
ANT''  says, 

*  *  *  "  Anything  like  a  faithful  and 
exhaustive  notice  of  such  a  volume 
would  require  the  space  of  a  quar 
terly  review.     *  *  *  The  author,  in 
his  preface,  has  outlined  our  labor 
in  a  brief  but  clear  dissection  of  its 
contents.     *  *  *  In  this  volume  he 
gives  only  the  fundamental  political 
organic  principles.     He  professes  to 
write  free  from  prejudice  as  to  exist 
ing  parties,  and  to  have  prepared  a 
volume  which  can  be  safely  recom 
mended  to  pious  young  men  and  stu 
dents  for  the  ministry,  who  desire  to 
keep  abreast  with  the  age  on  this 
subject.    In  this  light  especially,  our 
own  examination  of  it  leads  us  to 
endorse  the  work  as  the  most  com 
pact  and  yet  comprehensive  of  the 
science  of  which  we  have  knowledge. 
It  should  find  a  place  in  the  library 
of  every  minister  who  would  culti 
vate  enlarged  views  of  a  thinking 
period.     It  is  most  thorough  in  its 
treatment.     *  *  *  It  is  a  book    for 
study  and  reference,  and  a  most  val 
uable  addition  to  the  discussion  of 
an  eminently  important  subject." 

The  Baltimore  "EPISCOPAL  METHO 
DIST"  says, 

*  *  *  "  It  is  philosophical  in  its 
scope  of  thought  and  modes  of  in 
quiry,  and  after  giving  the  author's 
definition  of  social  science,  endeavors 
to  show  its  relation  to  other  sciences, 
It  proposes  to  carry  into  social  sci 
ence  the  same  wide  spirit  of  harmony 
and    generalization    that    Schleier- 
macher  carried  into  theology.     Re 
cognizing  the  Divine  character  and 
renovating    influence    of    Christian 
truth,  it  proposes  to  bring  its  influ 
ence  to  bear  upon  the  political  sys 


tem  of  the  world,  and  thus  contribute 
by  its  reflex  bearings  to  the  moral 
regeneration  of  mankind." 

The  "BALTIMORE  AMERICAN"  says, 

#  *  #  u  This  volume  is  presented 
to   the   public   in  the   humble,  but 
earnest  desire  of  being  able  to  con 
tribute  his  mite  to  the  Christianiza- 
tion  of  politics,  the  promotion  of  real 
freedom  and   progress  and   the  im 
provement  of  society,  firmly  believ 
ing  that  the  promotion  of  freedom 
and  progress  in  this  world  is  aid  to 
the  salvation  of  souls  in  the  next 
world." 

The  "  NEW  ORLEANS  BULLETIN"  says, 
"  The  author  *  *  *  offering  his 
work  as  a  mite  contributed  towards 
the  promotion  of  real  freedom  and 
progress,  and  the  improvement  of 
society.  He  defines  Social  Science 
as  the  '  Philosophy  of  Politics,' 
and  therefore  specially  worthy  the 
thoughtful  consideration  of  Ameri 
can  citizens,  to  whom  we  therefore 
commend  the  work." 
The  "  LONDON  SATURDAY  REVIEW/' 
England,  says, 

*  *  *  <*  -\ye   [mve  three  works  on 
political  science,  none  of  them  en 
tirely   without    claim   to   attention. 
Mr.  R.  J.  Wright,  in  his  Principia, 
undertakes  to  reconstruct  not  merely 
the  basis  of  social  science,  but  that 
of  political  society  itself.     His  politi 
cal  order  is  to  be  founded  on  the  ag 
gregation  of  a  multitude  of  Precincts, 

*  *  *  with  a  population  ranging  from 
that  of  a  village  to  that  of  a  moderate- 
sized  town.     Each  of  these  is  to  con 
stitute  itself,  by  force  of  spcial  affini 
ties  and  the  attraction  of  like  to  like, 
of  families  in  the  same  state  of  moral 
advancement,  intellectual  education, 
refinement,  and  general  social  char 
acter  ;  room  is  also  to  be  made  for 
societies  of  special  tenets  and  ten 
dencies.     *  *  *    This  is  the  basis 

*  *  * : — the  general  construction  of 
the  edifice,  the  details  of  each  suc 
cessive  enlargement  of  the  self-gov 
erning  area  and   corresponding  re 
duction  of  the  powers  of  government, 
and  the  distribution  of  different  func 
tions    among    the    different    ruling 
bodies,  we  must  leave  the  reader  to 
study  in  the  volume  itself." 


ADDITIONAL  NOTICES. 


HERBERT     SPENCER,    London, 

Eng.,  saijs, 

"I  have  to  thank  you  for  a  copy 
of  your  Principia,  etc.,  brought  over 
by  my  friend  Prof.  Youmans.  *  *  * 
I  am  glad  to  see  a  work  which, 
though  in  some  respects  divergent 
from  my  own  views,  is  in  others  co 
incident  with  them.  All  such  efforts 
to  diffuse  larger  conceptions  must  be 
beneficial." 

T.  W.  HIGGINSON,  Newport,  R.  L, 

says, 

"  I  have  read  with  especial  interest 
that  portion  of  it  relating  to  the 
organization  of  labor  by  association. 
*  *  *  Your  book  must  represent  a 
great  deal  of  study  and  work,  and 
you  deserve  much  credit  for  putting 
so  much  sincere  labor  into  it,  and 
carrying  it  out  so  thoroughly." 

The  li  PRINCETON  REVIEW"  says, 

*  *  *  « Whatever     success     the 
author  may  have  attained  or  failed 
of,  *  *  *  he  has  given  out  no  second 
hand  or  hackneyed  views.    His  book 
is  the  fruit  of  long  observation,  care 
ful  study  and  profound  thinking.    It 
abounds   in   reasonings   which   are 
original,  often  just  and  generally, 
even  when  obnoxious  to  criticism, 
highly  suggestive. 

*  *  *  «  The  author  shows  a  breadth 
and  depth  of  view  quite  beyond  that 
of  average  specialists  and  writers  on 
it,  or  its  different  branches,  in  the 
importance    which    he    assigns    to 
theology,   metaphysics,  psychology, 
ethics,  in  short  all  the  mental  sci 
ences,  as  a  needful  propaedeutic  for 
mastering   sociology.     Here    he    is 
toto  ccelo  above,  as  well  as  different 
from,  Comte,  and  the  entire  school 
of  positivists,  sensualists  and  mate 
rialists.     *  *  *  Mr.    Wright  justly 
says :    *  The  study  of  theology  is  the 
scientific    study    of    religion,    and, 
therefore,    calls    into    exercise    the 
higher  faculties  of  the  mind.    Hence, 
it  is  one  of  the  best  preparations, 
for  earnest  original  study  in  any  of 
the  sciences.'  *'*  *  —  *  *  * » 

"  The  above  quotations  will  be 
found  scattered,  from  pages  31  to 
36,  inclusive,  and  will  suffice  to  give 
a  taste  of  the  book,  which  may  lead 
some  to  a  further  examination  of 
12 


it.  While  we  highly  value  it,  we 
dissent  from  some  of  its  positions.*** 
"We  regret  that  the  foregoing 
notice,  prepared  for  a  previous  num 
ber,  has  been,  by  inadvertence,  de 
layed  until  now." 
The  "  INDEPENDENT,"  New  York, 

says,  < 
*  "  The  subdivision  of  topics 

*  *  *  is  exceedingly  minute.     *  *  * 
Mr.  Wright  "regards  social  science 
as   'a  kind  of  high  politics.'     He 
makes  it  so  high  and  at  the  same 
time  so  comprehensive,  as  to  embrace 
nearly  all  the  other  sciences.    *  *  * 
Mr.  Wright  shows  much  reading  on 
the  subject  of  which  he  treats  and 
large   industry  in   collecting   mate 
rials,  while  he  is  scholarly  and  gen 
erally  lucid  in  his  style." 

The  '"  EVENING  TELEGRAPH,"  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

"  An  introduction  to  a  new  syste'm 
of  philosophy,  which  shall  be  dis 
tinctively  American  and  distinc 
tively  Christian.  *  *  *  A  work  like 
Mr.  Wright's,  that  is  so  full  of  care 
fully-digested  information  on  a  large 
number  of  important  topics,  can 
scarcely  be  perused  otherwise  than 
with  profit.  The  topics  discussed 

*  *  *  are  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  an 
eminently  practical  character  which 
have   a   bearing   upon   the  govern 
mental  problems  which  we  are  en 
deavoring  to  solve  in  this  country, 
and  as  such  they  merit  the  attention 
of  those  who  desire  to  understand 
and  to  perform  with  the  best  effect 
all  the  duties  of  citizenship." 

The  "BANNER  OF  LIGHT,"  Boston, 

says, 

"  Mr.  Wright  has  in  this  large 
volume  shown  himself  the  master 
of  all  the  schools,  whose  peculiari 
ties  he  exposes  in  a  full  and  fair 
manner,  desirous  of  nothing  but 
arriving  at  the  truth.  *  *  *  How 
faith  fully  he  has  done  this  can  only 
be  learned  from  a  studious  perusal 
of  his  volume,  upon  whose  pages 
are  to  be  seen  the  proofs  of  patient 
and  well-directed  thought  and  the 
most  painstaking  investigation.  *  *  * 
To  be  welcomed  by  all  such  as  are 
in  earnest  rather  for  the  truth  than 
for  the  support  of  any  preconceived 


NOTICES. 


13 


theory.  The  author,  after  all,  pre 
tends  to  have  done  no  more  than  lay 
down  the  principles  of  the  science  in 
this  volume,  but  in  mastering  them  a 
key  is  obtained  to  the  whole  subject." 
The  "  CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE,"  New 

York,  says, 

"  This  is  the  work  of  an  author 
with  whom  we  have  not  heretofore 
been  acquainted — which  fact,  how 
ever  should  not  be  construed  as  proof 
that  he  has  been  unknown.  We 
suspect  that  he  is  somewhat  of  a 
solitary  student,  and  much  more 
conversant  with  books  than  with 
men.  *  *  *  In  his  religious  philoso 
phy  he  seems  to  be  of  the  best  Chris 
tian  type,  and  in  his  political  phi 
losophy  he  is  purely  and.  broadly 
American.  *  *  *  There  need  be  no 
hesitation,  however,  to  say  that  it 
contains  a  vast  amount  of  valuable 
materials,  and  to  the  intelligent 
reader  who  looks  beneath  the  sur 
face  of  things  it  will  prove  provoca 
tive  of  valuable  thoughts." 

The     "PITTSBURGH     COMMERCIAL" 


"  Very  many  will  be  surprised  to 
find  this  such  a  sensible  work,  judg 
ing  it  by  its  title.  *  *  *  The  unique 
style,  correctness  and  freshness  of 
statements,  make  the  reader  lose 
sight  of  the  mode  of  reasoning  and 
peculiar  forms  of  thought.  *  *  * 
Without  concurring  in  all  the 
author's  opinions,  we  find  much  in 
the  work  to  admire,  and  particularly 
the  high  tone  and  conscientious  effort 
to  solve  the  problem  of  man's  social 
well-being." 

The  "  CHRONICLE  AND  NEWS,"  Allen- 
town,  Pa.,  says, 

"  The  work  is  one  of  advanced 
ideas,  the  author  differing  materially 
upon  many  points  with  writers  upon 
kindred  subjects.  The  vexed  prob 
lems  of  social  life  are  discussed  so 
honestly  that  the  reader  cannot  fail 
to  be  impressed  with  the  writer's 
earnestness  in  his  expressed  desire 
to  be  able  to  help  promote  progress, 
improve  society  and  benefit  man 
kind.  *  *  *  We  advise  those  inter 
ested  in  the  subject  to  read  the  book 
itself,  assuring  them  that  it  will  well 
repay  perusal." 


The  "  CHRISTIAN  ERA,"  Boston,  says, 
"  In  the  fullness  of  its  table  of 
contents,  *  *  *  in  the  cyclopediac 
range  of  its  topics,  embracing  '  high 
politics,'  theology,  metaphysics, 
moral  philosophy,  political  economy, 
the  science  of  government,  the  sci 
ence  of  physical  man,  and  miscella 
neous  topics  relating  to  the  develop 
ment  and  progress  of  the  race ;  in 
the  minuteness  of  its  sub-divisions, 
*  in  the  originality  of  its  punc 
tuation  marks,  *  *  *  in  the  singu 
larity  of  its  syntax,  *  *  *  this  '  Prin- 
cipia'  is  not  merely  an  imposing 
and  curious,  but  a  ponderous  and 
unique  book.  As  an  illustration  of 
a  peculiar  method  of  literary  work, 
*  *  *  it  is  the  most  extraordinary 
volume  we  have  ever  encountered." 

The    "CHURCHMAN,"     New     York, 

says, 

"  At  the  first  glance  this  seems  an 
imposing  work.  The  size  of  the 
book,  the  very  title,  and  a  glance  at 
the  table  of  contents,  filling  nearly 
twenty  pages,  and  embracing  almost 
a  cyclopedia  of  topics,  impressed  us 
as  only  things  of  vastness  can,  and 
we  prepared  ourselves  for  solid  read 
ing  and  close  thinking.  *  *  *  We 
venture  to  suggest  whether  princi 
ples  so  very  vague  as  those  which 
he  proposes  to  make  the  basis  of 
Social  Science,  including  theology 
and  morality,  can  be  of  much  use  in 
preparing  young  men  for  the  Min 
istry.  '  High  Church,  Low  Church, 
and  no  Church'  are  all  the  same  to 
him.  *  *  *  As  to  the  work  itself  we 
have  little  to  say." 

The  "EPISCOPAL  REGISTER,"  Phila 
delphia,  says, 

"We  do  not  feel  ourselves  pre 
pared  to  enter  into  any  full  review 
of  this  work.  The  author  has  made 
his  subject  a  study,  and  writes  ia 
the  interest  of  religion." 

Miss  E.   P.  PEABODY,    Cambridge, 

Mass.,  says, 

11  The  book  *  *  *  is  very  interest 
ing  ;  but  I  have  not  read  it  carefully 
enough  to  speak  of  it  worthily.  *  *  * 
A  gentleman  friend  of  mine  has  your 
volume  now  STUDYING  it.  *  *  *  He 
says  it  is  very  interesting." 


14 


NOTICES. 


JOHN  JORDAN,  JR.,  ESQ., /or  the  His 
torical  Society  of  Pa.,  says, 
11 1  ain  directed  by  the  Society  to 
communicate   to   you   their  thanks 

*  *  *  for  Principia.    *  *  *  We  gladly 
welcome  *  *  *  this  exceedingly  in 
teresting  work  as  an  acquisition  to 
our   collection.     *  *  *  We   will    be 
happy  to  receive  your  visits  here." 

REV.  J.  F.  GARRISON,  Camden,  N.  J., 

says, 

11  The  subject  is  one  of  supreme 
importance.  *  *  *  It  concerns  the 
church  even  more  than  the  state. 

*  *  *  One  statement  gives  me  much 
assurance  of  a  satisfactory  discus 
sion  ;   and  that  is  your  purpose  to 
make  use  of  metaphysical  consider 
ations  in  settling  your  principia  *  *  * 
— the  right  point  of  view  from  which 
to  approach  the  whole  subject.'" 
WM.  WELSH,  ESQ.,  Philada.,  says, 

"Mr.  Wright  will  please  accept 
my  acknowledgments  of  his  kind  re 
membrance  of  his  old  neighbor."*'55'* 

"  On  the  receipt  of  your  Prin 
cipia  I  hoped  to  get  time  to  study  it 
carefully." 

REV.  T.  J.  SHEPHERD,  D.D.,  Phila., 
says, 

"  I  thank  you  very  heartily  for 
the  volume,  and  I  should  be  glad, 
when  leisure  offers,  to  read  it.  *  *  * 
I  will  be  happy  to  see  you  and  to 
express  my  acknowledgments  in 
person." 

T.  W.  WORRELL,  ESQ.,  Frankford, 
Pa.,  says, 

il  I  anticipate   great   pleasure  as 
well  as  profit  in  the  reading/' 
JOSEPH  MOORE,  Pres.  Earlliam  Col., 
Richmond,  Ind.,  says, 

*  *  *  "  A  book  which  from  what 
I  have  observed  thus  far,  promises 
to  be  of  great  value  in  my  profes 
sion  (teaching)." 

E.  F.  STEWART,  ESQ.,  Easton,  Pa., 
says, 

11  You  seem  to  have  taken  a  broader 
and  more  philosophical  view  of  the 
subject  than  any  of  your  predeces 
sors  or  compeers." 
REV.  J.  P.  WATSON,  Troy,  O.,  says, 

"  I  am  truly  grateful  to  you,  and 
have,  so  far,  much  enjoyed  its  exam 
ination." 


REV.  J.  E.  NASSAU,  D.D.,  Warsaw, 
N.  Y.,  says, 

"  A  handsome  volume,  a  sort  of 
thesaurus  on  Social  Science.  *  *  * 
I  am  glad  to  see  that  the  Alumni  of 
Lafayette  are  making  their  mark  in 
the  literary  and  scientific  world,  as 
well  as  in  other  avenues  of  useful 
ness." 

REV.   0.   0.   WRIGHT,    Fall   River, 
Mass.,  says, 

li  I  have  been  studying  it  carefully, 
that  I  might  tell  you  what  it  is  to 
me.  I  find  a  deep  interest  and 
much  profit  in  it.  *  *  *  I  feel  that 
it  is  calculated  to  do  great  good." 
REV.  J.  D.  NORMANDIE,  Portsmouth, 
N.  H.,  says, 

11 1  shall  read  it  with  much  inter 
est  as  soon  as  I  can." 

The  "INQUIRER,"  London,  England, 

says, 

"  Writers  on  Sociology  *  *  *  may 
be  and  frequently  are  very  able  and 
accomplished  men,  like  the  author 
of  this  volume.  *  *  *  Although  *  *  * 
perplexed  *  *  *  we  have  yet  formed 
a  high  opinion  of  the  author  as  an 
earnest  and  sincere  thinker,  ani 
mated  by  a  generous  desire  to  correct 
some  of  the  miseries  and  evils  of  the 
social  state  under  the  existing  forms 
of  civilization.  *  *  *  The  author 
seems  to  have  bestowed  an  immense 
deal  of  labor  on  his  work;  *  *  * 
but  we  doubt  much  if  any  one 
knows  or  can  know,  within  the  com 
pass  of  earthly  life,  all  the  elements 
— not  even  all  the  fundamental  ones 
— that  belong  to  *  *  *  human  so 
ciety.  *  *  *  As  for  their  number 
they  are  just  as  likely  to  be  six  hun 
dred  as  six.  These  inner  mysteries 
of  human  nature  may  be  sneered  at 
by  practical  men  as  '  airy  nothings,' 
but  without  them  none  of  the  so- 
called  facts  of  life  would  have  '  a 
local  habitation  and  a  name.' 
Our  author  *  *  *  does  not  invest 
his  ideal  communities  with  couleur 
de  rose  and  an  atmosphere  all  bless 
edness  and  joy.  *  *  *  Society  needs 
change,  and  society  will  have  it  in 
time.  *  *  *  We  hope  such  of  our 
readers  as  are  interested  in  the  sci 
ence  of  Sociology  will  look  into  this 
volume." 


PRINCIPIA 


OR 


BASIS 


OP 


SOCIAL    SCIENCE. 


BEING  A   SURVEY  OF  THE   SUBJECT  FROM  THE 

MORAL  AND  THEOLOGICAL,  YET  LIBERAL 

AND  PROGRESSIVE   STAND-POINT. 


BY 

R.    J.    WEIGHT 


SECOND  EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO. 

1876. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1875,  by 

R.  J.  WRIGHT, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


DEDICATION. 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  MY  DEAR  DEPARTED  SISTER, 
JOSEPHINE  AMANDA  WRIGHT:— 

BY   WHOSE    SELF-SACRIFICE,    UNTO   DEATH,    I    WAS   ENABLED   TO   SURVIVE, 
AND    TO    WORK,    AND    TO    PRODUCE    THESE    AND   OTHER   WRITINGS: — 

(Tins  ®loth  is  mftttxonaiclg  anb  SRcbmntln  $pebitaitb 

BY  HER,  LIVING  MONUMENT, 

R.  J.  W. 


PREFACE. 


FIRST.  In  presenting  a  new  work  on  any  subject,  it  seems 
proper  that  the  writer  should  commence  his  preface  to  it,  by 
pointing  out  wherein  his  work  differs  from,  or  is  called  for  by, 
the  characteristics  of  other  and  abler  works,  already  in  the  same 
field.  Therefore  we  will  briefly  compare  the  principal  charac 
teristics  of  ours,  with  such  works. 

From  Comte  we  differ ; — First.  In  adding  metaphysics  to  his 
merely  physical  sciences,  and  in  maintaining  the  idea,  that  meta 
physics,  ethics,  and  religion,  are  branches  of  a  really  "  positive 
philosophy."  Second.  By  denying  that  the  progress  of  the 
human  race  in  the  highest  aims  of  life,  is  anything  like  so  well 
proved  in  history,  as  to  be  made  the  basis  of  a  "Positive  Science." 

From  Carey  we  differ; — First.  In  making  much  more  use 
of  metaphysical  considerations,  and  less,  of  merely  mercantile  or 
financial  ones.  "Second.  In  believing  that  the  price  of  land  is  in 
creasing  with  fearful  rapidity,  and  bringing  evils  on  earth,  as  yet 
but  little  anticipated.  Third.  In  admitting  that  the  population 
of  the  world  is  approaching,  and  will  approach,  a  density  that 
will  puzzle  social  science,  morality,  and  religion,  to  provide 
against  the  evils  thereof.  Fourth.  Mr.  Carey  has  too  much 
animosity,  and  is  too  bitter  against  England. 

From  Paley  we  differ,  chiefly ; — In  our  estimating  the  moral 
instincts,  as  on  a  PAR  with  reasonings  from  expediency :  and  in 
regard  to  views  arising  from  the  differences  between  monarchy 
and  democracy ;  and  about  the  pre-eminent  value  of  the  British 
Constitution.  But  we  agree  with  him  particularly,  in  that  our 
work,  like  his,  is  written  avowedly  in  the  interests  of  revealed 
or  traditionary  religion. 

As  to  Spencer;  we  admit  he  is  the  King  of  the  Social  Scien 
tists  ;  but  think,  First,  that  unless  by  his  metaphysical  argu 
mentation,  he  does  not  differ  from  Comte  so  much  as  he  appears 


vi  PREFACE. 

to  think  he  does :  except  that  Comte  was  avowedly  atheistic,  but 
Mr.  Spencer  is  rather  deistic.  Mr.  Spencer  seems  to  work  chiefly 
in  the  interests  of  secular  science ;  but  we  work  chiefly  in  the 
interests  of  religion,  and  of  scientific  statesmanship.  And  our 
work  differs  so  much  from  his,  in  ideas,  conclusions,  methods, 
classifications,  and  spirit, — that  we  can  only  refer  the  reader  to 
the  whole  course  of  the  works,  respectively. 

From  Mulford  we  differ,  chiefly; — In  objecting  to  the  pre 
dominance  which  he  gives  to  the  rights  of  Nation,  over  all  the 
other  Elements  of  humanity,  and  of  social  science  ;  and  object, 
that  his  work  has  a  less  wide  scope  than  either  Fourier's,  Comte's, 
Spencer's,  or  Mill's. 

With  regard  to  J.  S.  Mill; — He  is  a  valuable  writer,  and  we 
often  quote  from  him,  as  confirmatory  proof,  but  he  does  not 
allow  enough  for  the  demands  of  human  feeling ;  besides,  he 
takes  too  much  of  the  commercial  view  of  everything.  Further 
more;  Mill  is  too  essentially  English,  and  European, — in  the 
plans  which  he  proposes,  and  in  those  which  he  opposes ;  and 
in  the  arguments  which  he  adduces. 

Guizofs  "  History  of  European  Civilization"  is  a  first  class 
work,  and  has  been  well  abridged ;  but  its  scope  is  only  his 
torical,  and  European ;  and  its  form  is  not  scientific,  but  rather 
narrative. 

None  of  these  writers,  except  Fourier,  takes  a  wide  enough 
scope.  Comte  and  Spencer  omit  the  true  moral  and  theological 
bearings.  Paley  omits  the  Physico-Scientific. 

As  to  Fourier ;  He  is  so  wide  in  his  analogies,  and  range  of 
topics,  as  to  be  almost  wild  in  those  respects.  Besides,  his  IDEAL 
is  too  high  for  the  common  world,  and  too  low  for  the  higher  life ; 
and  requires  a  larger  number  of  persons  for  a  single  "  phalanx," 
than  can  easily  be  obtained  for  such  experiments. 

SECOND.  The  authors  or  works  to  whom  this  writer  is  most 
indebted  for  encouragement  and  aid ;  besides  those  above  men 
tioned, — are,  the  Bible ;  Appleton's  Cyclopaedia ;  Wheaton,  Rus- 
kin,  Tennyson,  Guyot,  De  Tocqueville,  F.  Cooper,  Schleier- 
macher,  and  M'Cosh ;  also  to  Ballou,  Nordhoff,  "  The  Circular" 
and  other  writers  on  Communism,  and  to  the  various  works  on 
Natural  Theology,  Theism,  etc.;  and  to  various  writers,  Catho 
lic  and  Protestant,  on  the  higher  life  of  the  Individual-soul. 


PREFACE.  vil 

And  besides  this  general  acknowledgment,  the  endeavor  has 
been  made  all  along,  to  give  the  authorities  and  exact  quota 
tions,  in  their  respective  places.  A  general  acknowledgment  is 
also  due  here,  to  a  host  of  American  historians,  statesmen,  and 
commentators  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, — whom 
he  has  read  and  heard  and  admired  from  early  boyhood. 

THIRD.  The  writer's  own  aims  in,  and  view  of  this  volume, 
may  be  stated  as  follows :  Politics,  which,  previous  to  the  Great 
Rebellion,  he  had  considered  as,  in  this  country,  but  little  more 
than  party  squabbles  for  place,  and  for  words, — rose  up  before 
him,  after  the  war,  as  the  object  to  which  he  desired  to  devote 
some  of  his  best  time  and  thought.  And  this  volume  is  a  part 
of  the  results.  It  is  one  of  a  series,  taking  a  survey  of  the  sub 
ject  from  the  moral  and  theological,  yet  liberal  and  progressive 
stand-point.  The  series  has  been  several  years  under  thought, 
and  in  preparation.  And  this  volume  gives  only  the  fundamen 
tal  political  organic  principles.  The  writer's  scientific  thoughts 
are  generally  arranged  as  arguments  for  one  and  another  of  his 
proposed  ideals.  Because  an  ideal  is  a  theory.  And,  "not  to 
have  an  ideal  higher  than  ourselves/7  or  than  our  common  insti 
tutions,  is  to  let  ourselves  and  our  institutions  go  downwards  by 
the  gravitating  force  of  inherent  evils.  Yet  he  has  endeavored 
to  write  in  such  a  spirit,  and  to  produce  such  a  volume,  that 
all  liberal-minded  and  liberal- hearted  persons,  might  read  it, 
without  pain  or  disturbance;  either  to  their  religious  convic 
tions,  whether  high-church,  low-church,  or  no  church :  or  to 
their  political  feelings,  whether  Democrats,  Republicans,  or  what 
ever  else  they  might  be : — and  furthermore,  a  volume  that  could 
safely  be  recommended  to  pious  young  men,  especially  to  stu 
dents  for  the  ministry,  who  really  desired  to  be  useful,  and  to  be 
abreast  of  their  age,  on  this  subject.  In  that  spirit  he  presents 
the  volume  to  the  public,  in  the  humble  but  earnest  desire,  of 
being  able  to  contribute  his  mite,  towards  the  Christianization  of 
politics,  the  promotion  of  real  freedom  and  progress,  and  the 
improvement  of  society :  firmly  believing,  that  the  promotion  of 
freedom  and  progress  in  this  world,  is  aid  to  salvation  of  souls 
in  the  next  world. 

Its  method  of  discussion  aims  ,to  be,  by  reverting  constantly 
to  general  fundamental  principles,  instead  of  to  the  passions  or 


yiii  PREFACE. 

prejudices  of  the  day,  or  age,  or  country.  It  endeavors  to  see 
the  inside  of  its  subjects  impartially,  and  to  harmonize  contend 
ing  truths ;  and  on  new,  and  American  principles.  It  attempts 
to  carry  into  Social  Science  and  Politics,  the  same  wide  spirit 
of  harmony  and  generalization,  for  the  sake  of  conciliation,  that 
Schleiermacher  so  successfully  carried  into  Theology. 
'  The  work  will  sometimes  have  occasion  to  censure  the  faults 
and  sins  of  governments,  of  our  own,  as  also  of  others.  And 
like  all  other  rebukes  to  wrongs  and  evils,  the  more  opposi 
tion  the  censures  meet,  or  the  less  welcome  their  reception  is, 
the  more  it  would  prove  that  they  were  really  needed :  At  any 
rate,  the  work  is  published  from  a  sense  of  duty  to  God :  and 
bearing  in  mind  Froebel's  words,  "come  let  us  live  for  our 
children." 

FOURTH.  As  to  the  title,  we  call  it  "  Principia  or  Basis  of 
Social  Science,"  as  referring,  not  to  our  treatment  of  the  subject ; 
but  to  the  five  great  heads  or  topics  here  treated,  and  to  their 
.superior  and  more  general  relation  to  the  several  other  topics, 
which  we  propose  to  publish  at  some  future  time, — in  other 
volumes,  with  other  titles.  Therefore,  this  volume  needed  some 
appropriate  title  appended  to  the  term  Social  Science,  to  dis 
tinguish  it  from  them.  And,  should  the  remaining  volumes 
of  this  series  be  published,  they  will  be  less  abstract,  and  more 
immediately  practicable,  than  this  one. 

FIFTH.  As  to  the  Form  and  Style.  The  form  of  the  book, 
and  of  its  Divisions  and  Sub-Divisions,  has  merely  grown  up 
gradually  out  of  the  subject,  and  of  the  author's  method  of 
studying  it,  namely,  first  analytically  and  inductively, — and 
afterwards  synthetically  and  deductively. 

As  to  the  Style.  The  endeavor  has  been,  to  make  it  intelligible 
and  unequivocal,  to  thoughtful  readers  with  a  tolerably  fair  Eng 
lish  education,  who  are  without  much  technical  knowledge  on  the 
subjects  treated.  But  still  it  seems  true,  that  a  study  which  ranges 
through  most  of  the  sciences,  culling  the  gems,  and  extracting  the 
essence,  from  many  of  them,  cannot  be  fully  understood,  until 
after  acquiring  something,  both  of  the  general  knowledge,  and 
of  the  general  discipline  of  mind,  that  are  acquired  by  those 
studies.  Moreover,  for  instance,  Primers,  or  even  early  school- 
books  of  any  science,  cannot  be  produced  until  after  the  principles 


PREFACE. 


IX 


of  the  science  become  pretty  well  established ;  so  that  then  many 
preparatory  arguments  may  be  dispensed  with.  To  make  a 
work  on  this  subject  intelligible  to  all,  would  therefore  be,  to 
make  it,  either,  so  primer-like,  or  so  prolonged  and  diffuse,  as  to 
cut  it  off  from  the  sympathies  and  attentions  of  those  who,  in 
reality,  were  most  likely  to  study  it.  As  to  such  matters,  and  in 
the  present  early  condition  of  Social  Science,  all  works  concern 
ing  it,  ought  to  be  compared,  not  with  works  on  Chemistry,  or 
Astronomy,  or  even  Moral  Philosophy,  or  Political  Economy ; 
but  rather,  with  works  on  Geology  or  Metaphysics. 

For  the  defects  of  style ;  and  lack  of  thorough  revision,  both 
previous  to,  and  whilst  going  through  the  press, — the  writer  must 
beg  the  indulgence  of  the  public, — especially  on  the  grounds  of 
advancing  years,  and  of  much  enfeebled  health. 

As  to  the  punctuation, — IT  is,  generally,  according  to  the  au 
thor's  own  rules ;  and  he  therefore  relieves  all  other  persons  from 
responsibility  for  its  general  deviation  from  the  ordinary  customs 
thereof.  For,  in  his  view,  punctuation  should  be  adapted  to  suit 
readers,  and  students,  rather  than  hurried  reviewers ;  and  should 
principally  aim  to  give  most  of  the  pauses  for  reading,  and  for 
making  the  meaning  distinct  and  unequivocal,  and,  even  obvious 
to  the  unlearned;  and  especially  so,  in  abstract  writings;  also 
remembering  that  it  is  easier  to  remove  punctuation  marks  from 
stereotyped  plates,  than  to  insert  them  therein. 

SIXTH.  But  after  all,  there  may  be  deemed  necessary,  some 
excuse  for  the  writer's  presuming  to  publish  his  work  at  all,  on 
such  an  exalted  topic. 

Well :  He  does  not  pretend  to  class  this  work,  as  at  all  on  a 
par  with  the  works  of  the  other  great  names  already  mentioned. 
He  does  not  claim  any  pre-eminent  ability,  but  only,  patient  study 
and  laborious  thought.  Yet  he  remembers,  that  as  Spencer  him 
self  says,  (Westminster  Review,  vol.  67,  page  243):  "In  science, 
as  in  life,  every  man,  strong  or  weak,  carries  his  burden  but  a 
little  way,  and  then  gives  place  to  a  younger."  And  perhaps 
this  remark  may  apply  even  to  the  great  names  above  mentioned, 
as  well  as  to  others,  as  also  to  his  own.  However,  he  hopes  that 
his  thoughts,  at  any  rate,  will  at  least  serve  as  suggestions  to 
others,  and  that  they  will  stimulate  others  to  produce  better  and 
more  readable  works  on  the  subject,  whilst  also  retaining  sound- 


x  PREFACE. 

ness  in  Morals  and  Theology.  And  he  hopes  also,  that  if  the 
public  cannot  tolerate  these  writings,  as  a  work  of  science,  they 
will,  at  any  rate,  tolerate  them  as  a  kind  of  sermons  to  politi 
cians  and  statesmen.  And  he  is  quite  willing  that  no  persons 
other  than  those  who  are  given  to  these  kinds  of  studies,  or  who 
desire  to  become  so,  will  read  his  book  at  all. 

The  concluding  words  of  one  of  Mr.  Wheaton's  prefaces,  seem 
appropriate  here ;  and  are : — "  The  knowledge  of  this  science  has, 
consequently,  been  justly  regarded  as  of  the  highest  importance 
to  all  who  take  an  interest  in  political  affairs.  The  Author 
cherishes  the  hope  that  the  following  attempt  to  illustrate  it,  will 
be  received  with  indulgence,  if  not  with  favor,  by  those  who  know 
the  difficulties  of  the  undertaking." 

Accordingly,  we  ask  critics  to  be  indulgent,  and  to  let  the 
volume  have  time  to  be  clearly  understood,  consistently  in  its 
various  parts, — before  they  extinguish  it  utterly.  And  finally ; 
borrowing  an  idea  from  Paley,  but  revising  it,  we  may  say, — 
that,  we  cannot  see  why,  our  having  done,  however  feebly,  yet  as 
well  as  we  were  able,  a  work  which  seemed  to  be  very  much 
needed, — should  hinder  any  other  person  from  doing  it  as  much 
better  as  he  would  choose  to. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


BOOK   I. 

SUMMAET   INTRODUCTION    TO 
SOCIAL    SCIENCE. 


PART  I. 
PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  STUDY. 


PAGE 


Chap.  I.  In  General 19 

Chap.  II.  Definition  of  Social  Science      .         .     19 

Chap.  III.  Scope  of  Social  Science       .         .        .22 

§1.  In  General. 22 

§  2.  Locus  of  Intersection  with  the  Other  Sciences.     22 

Chap.  IV.  Uses 23 

§  1.  Implied  in  its  Definition  and  Scope       .         .     23 

§  2.  Magnitude  of  Civil  and  Political  Evils         .     23 

§  3.  Philosophical  Basis  Wanted          .         .         .     25 

§  4.  Improvement  of  Humanity  consistent  with 

Free-Will 26 

§  5.  Influence  on  Other  Sciences          .         .         .27 

§  6.  Summary  of  Uses 28 

§  7.  Modes  of  Influence 29 

Chap.  V.  Preparatory  Studies     .         .         .         .30 

§  1.  In  General ;  and  Methods  .         .         .         .30 

§2.  Theology    .         .       _,        .        .        .        .30 

§3.  Metaphysics 33 

Chap.  VI.  Promoters  and  Teachers     .         .         .34 

§  1.  Not  the  Classes  generally  supposed       .         .34 

§  2.  The  Real  Promoters    .         .         .         .         .36 

Chap.  VII.  Means  and  Data 38 

§  1.  Observation 38 


jil  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

PACK 

§2.       Experiment 38 

§  3.  Modification  of  Expediency  Doctrine   .         .     40 

§  4.  Return  to  First  Principles  .         .         .         .41 

§  5.  Analogies  of  Natural  Laws          .         .         .43 

§6.      The  Tribe-Principle 43 

§7.      The  Type-Theory 43 

§8.      Ideals 46 

(a)  Historical  Ideals 46 

(b)  Prospective  Ideals 47 

§  9.  Efficacy  for  Solution  of  Phenomena      .         .     48 

Chap.  VIII.  The  Method.— Analytical  .         .         .     48 

Chap.  IX.  The  Classifications        .         .         .         .50 

§  1.  The  Classifications  in  General       ...     50 

§  2.  Zoological  Classifications      .         .         .         .51 

(a)  Zoological, — By  others         .         .         .         .51 

(6)      Zoological, — By  us 51 

§  3.  Abstract  Ungeneric  Classifications         .         .     52 

§  4.  Generic  Classifications          .         .         .         .53 

(a)  Generic, — By  others     .         .         .         .         .53 

(6)  Our  Generic  Classification    .         .         .         .54 

(o)  Some  Higher  Comparisons  .         .         .         .55 

(d)  Some  Transcendental  Analogies    .         .         .56 

§  5.  Our  Order  of  Publication    .         .                  .     57 

PART  II. 
PRINCIPLES  OF  SOCIETY  ITSELF. 

Chap.  I.          Preliminary 58 

Chap.  II.  Most  General  Social  Laws          .         .     58 

§  1.  Differences  of  Degrees  of  Things          .         .     58 

§  2.  Analogies  with  Physical  Laws     .         .         .60 

§  3.  Metaphysical  Operation  of  Social  Laws         .     61 

§4.  Condensation  of  General  Social  Laws  .         .     62 

Chap.  III.  Equilibrata  of  Society         .         .         .64 

§  1.  Spontaneous  Combining  Powers  .         .         .64 

§  2.  Spontaneous  Quarreling  Powers  .         .         .66 

§  3.  Spontaneous  Reactionary  Powers          .         .66 

§  4.  Evils  Balancing  each  other  .         .         .         .68 

§  5.  Equilibrity  of  Sentiments    .         .         .         .69 

§  6.  Calculus  of  Variations         .         .         .         .70 


TA-BL.JB    UJ?     VJUJM  JL-&1NJLO. 

Xlll 

PAGE 

Chap.  IV. 

Constitution  of  Society 

70 

11. 

Real  Bonds  of  Society          .... 

70 

§2. 

Tests  of  a  Good  Social  Condition 

72 

(a) 

General  Tests      .         .         .         . 

72 

(6) 

Tests  in  Morality         .         .  .      . 

72 

W 

Tests  in  Fashions         

73 

W 

Tests  as  to  Labor         .         .         .         . 

73 

W 

Tests  as  to  Government        .... 

73 

§3. 

The  Spirit,  Not  the  Form   .... 

74 

§4. 

76 

Chap.  V. 

The  Doctrines  of  Progress.         .        * 

76 

§1. 

In  General          

76 

$2. 

77 

o  **• 

§3. 

Periods  of  Human  Progress         .         *  •-, 

79 

§4. 

Progressions  to  be  Homogeneous  .         .         . 

80 

§5. 

Who  the  Coming  Leaders  will  be 

81 

Chap.  VI. 

Theory  of  the  Six  Units     .        .. 

82 

11. 

In  General          ....        .,'•"••    ... 

82 

§2. 

Origin  of  this  Theory          .         .         . 

84 

§3. 

Some  Singular  Sixes    .         .         .         .  ,     * 

85 

§4. 

Combinations  of  the  Six  Units    .         .-       . 

87 

(a) 

Combinations  in  Concatenation    .         ; 

87 

(*) 

Combinations  in  Solution     .         .       ;•••-. 

89 

(«) 

Analogy  in  Chemistry          .         .         .         . 

89 

w 

Analogy  in  Geography 

89 

Chap.  VII. 

Balances  of  the  Six  Units  .         .        «* 

91 

11, 

In  General           ....       -.         * 

91 

§2. 

Individual  and  Family  as  Types        w  .         ; 

92 

§3. 

Resemblances  to  Gravitation         .         . 

92 

§4. 

Resemblances  to  Chemical  Affinity       . 

93 

§5. 

Natural  History  of  Society  .         .                  * 

95 

Chap.  VIII. 

The  Tribe-Principle    . 

97 

It. 

In  General,  and  Classifications     . 

97 

§2, 

Permanence  of  the  Tribe-Principle 

98 

§3. 

Natural  History  of  Tribe    .... 

98 

§4. 

Mutual  Relations  of  the  Three  Constituents 

100 

(a) 

Balance  of  the  Three  Constituents 

100 

(&) 

Corporation       

101 

(*) 

Social  Circle      

B 

101 

XIV 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


(d)  Precinct 103 

Chap.  IX.  Balances  of  all  the  Elements  of  So 
cial  Science        ...-..,     104 

§  1.  Balances  of  the  Analytical  Seven        .         .     104 

(a)  Law  of  Proportions  of  Power  .         .         .104 

(b)  Natural  Tendency  to  Over-Centralization    .     104 

(c)  Fields  of  Physical  and  Metaphysical  Power     106 

(d)  Different  Elements  represent  different  Eights     106 
§  2.  Balances  of  the  Whole  Fourteen         .         .     108 

(a)  In  General 108 

(6)  Balancing  Powers,  to  be  Homogeneous        .     109 

(c)  Delegation  of  Powers         .         .         .         .110 

(d)  Typicalness  of  the  Series    .         .         .         .111 
Chap.  X.  Arbitration-Juries       ....     112 

§  1.  Indirect  Balances  in  General      .         .         .112 

§2.  Arbitration 112 

§  3.  Juries  in  General 113 

§  4.  Classes  of  Society 113 

§5.  Principles  of  the  Methods.         .         .         .115 

Chap.  XL  Principles  of  Votes 115 

§1.  Expression  of  Averages     .         .         .         .115 

§2.  The  Ideal  Ballot       .....     116 

(1)  Ideal  Ballot  in  General      ....     116 

(2)  Ideal  Ballot  for  Ideas        .         .         .         .118 
Chap.  XII.  Principle  of  Currency       .         .         .     118 
Chap.  XIII.  Conclusion  of  Introduction      .         .     122 


BOOK   II. 

THE    PEEOINGT. 


PART    I. 

GENERAL    VIEW    OF    THE    THEORY    OF    THE 
PRECINCT. 

Chap.  I.          Preface 125 

Chap.  II.  Historical  Statement          .         .         .126 

§  1.       In  General  History 126 

§2.  In  United-States-History  .         .         .         .128 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xv 

Chap.  III.  Relatio    s  to  the  Other  Elements  of     PAGE 

The  Analytics   .         .         .         .         .     131 

§  1.  Relations  to  the  Six  Units          .         .         .131 

§  2.  Excess  of  Centralization    .         .         .         .134 

Chap.  IV.  Abstract  and  Direct  Statement        .     137 

§  1.      In  General 137 

§2.       Adaptations 138 

§  3.  Resemblance  to  International  Relations       .     139 

Chap.  V.  Theory  of  Amalgams  ....     140 

§  1.  Description  of  Amalgams  ....     140 

§  2.  Argument  for  Amalgams   ....     141 

Chap.  VI.  Comparison  with"States"under  the 

Constitution  of  the  United  States     142 

§1.  The  Most  Obvious  Points .         .         .         .     142 

(a)  In  General .142 

(b)  Inter-Precinct  Affairs         .         .         .         .143 

(c)  Affairs  within  the  Precinct  itself         .         .     146 

(d)  Temporary  Restrictions      .         .         .         .147 
§  2.  Points  of  the  Comparison,  Needing  further 

Illustration    .         .         .         .         .         .148 

(a)  Commerce  and  the  Legal  Tender        .         .148 

(b)  Divorce 149 

(c)  Punishment  of  Crime         .         .         .         .152 

(d)  Division  of  Precincts          .         .         .         .152 

(e)  Rebellion  of  Precincts        .         .         .         .153 
(/)  Separation  of  National  from  Precinct  Politics    155 

Chap.  VII.    Statement  and  Determination  of  the 

Size  of  Precincts  ....  156 
§  1.  Conditions  in  General  .  .  .  .156 
§  2.  Conditions  of  Population  ....  158 
§  3.  Conditions  of  Locality  .  .  .  .159 

PART    II. 
SPECIAL    ARGUMENTS    FOR    THE    THEORY. 

Chap.  I.          Preface .161 

§  1.      Classification  of  Theories  .         .         .         .161 
§  2.      Limits  of  the  Special  or  Collateral  Argu 
ments    ....  162 


xvi  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chap.  II.  The  Geographical  Argument    .         .     163 

§  1.  Forms  of  the  Continents   .         .         .         .163 

§  2.  Geographical  Course  of  Civilization  .         .165 

Chap.  III.  Analogies  with  Physical  Nature     .     167 

§  1.  Variety  in  God's  Creation          .         .         .167 

§  2.  From  Homogeneity  to  Heterogeneity  .         .168 

§  3.  Concentration,  versus  Diffusion,  of  Power  .     170 

§  4.  Sociological  Experiment     .         .         .         .171 

Chap.  IY.  Objects  and  Uses  of  "Law"      .         .     172 

§1.       In  General 172 

§  2.  Multitude  and  Minutiae  of  Affairs      .         .174 

§  3.  Competition  in  Government       .         .         .176 

Chap.  V.  Political  Objects  and    Uses      .         .     176 

§  1.      In  General 176 

§2.      Corruption 177 

§3.      Specialties 177 

Chap.  VI.  Human  Happiness       ....     179 

§  1.      In  General 179 

§  2.      Individual  Liberty 180 

Chap.  VII.     Human  Nature 181 

Chap.  VIII.  Morality  and  Religion       .         .         .182 

§1.       In  General 182 

§  2.  Unity  of  Local  Enterprises         .         .         .183 

§3.      Persecution 185 

§  4.  Scripture-Type,  in  the  Hebrew  Nation        .     187 

Chap.  IX.       Tribe-Relations 187 

§1.      In  General 187 

§  2.  Relations  to  Social  Circle  .         .         .         .188 

§  3.  Relations  to  Races,  Species,  and  Breeds       .     190 

Chap.  X.  Special  Objections  Answered  .         .     192 

§  1.  Intermingling,  Useful  in  the  Past       .         .192 

§  2.       Danger  of  Secession 194 

§  3.  Confederacy,  or  Nation?     .         .         .         .197 

§  4.  Objections  from  the  Scriptures    .         .         .198 

Chap.  XI.  Mining  Districts          .         .         .         .199 

Chap.  XII.  Special   Relations   to   "States"   and 

Large  Cities 199 

§  1.  Federative  Corporations     .         .         .         .199 

(a)      Classifications 199 


TABLE   OP   CONTENTS. 

(6)      Rights  of  Precincts  to  form  into  Federative      PAaE 

Corporations 201 

(c)      Temporary  Uses  of  "  States"      .         .         .     203 
§  2.      Cities  equivalent  to  States,  in  Eights  and 

Responsibilities      .....     203 
§  3.      Special  Needs  in  Large  Cities     .         .         .207 

(a)      In  General 207 

(6)      Residences  and  Occupations,  too  far  Apart     209 

(c)  Growth  of  Cities,  too  Rapid  for  Social  Science     210 

(d)  Plan  of  treating  "Fallen"  Districts    .         .212 

PART    III. 

CONCLUSION    OF    THE    PRECINCT: 
PARTIAL  APPLICABILITY  BY  CHARTERS. 

Chap.  I.          In  General 214 

Chap.  II.        By  Charters  from  the  Nation   .         .     215 
Chap.  III.      By  Charters  from  a   "State'?:— Pre 
liminary  Suggestions       .         .         .     216 
Chap.  IV.      The    Constitution     of    the    United 
States,  as    a    formal    Basis    for    a 
"State"        .         .         .         .         .         .     217 

§  1.      In  General         .         .         .         .         .         .217 

§2.      Exceptions 217 

Chap.  V.         Simple  and  Direct  Form  of  Charter 

from  a  State  .     219 


BOOK   III. 

THE    NATION. 


PART   I. 

THE  NATION  AS  A  FUNDAMENTAL  ELEMENT. 

Chap.  I.          Preliminaries 220 

Chap.  II.        Rights   of  the   Nation,  in  Relation 

to  th.e  Other  Elements   .         .         .223 

§  1.      Rights  in  General 223 

§  2.      Duties  of  Progress 229 

§  3.      Rights  in  Relation  to  Mankind  .         .         .234 


xvjii  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

Chap.  III.  Eights   in   Relation   to   Confedera-  PAGE 

tions 236 

§  1.  Right  to  form  Confederations     .         .         .  236 

§  2.  Uses  of  Confederations      .         .         .         .239 

Chap.  IY.  Contiguity,  Physical  and  Metaphys 
ical      .         .         .         .         .         .         .241 

Chap.  Y.  Definition  of  Nation          .         .         .242 

Chap.  VI.  Rebellions 247 

Chap.  VII.  Birth  and  Size  of  Nations         .         .  248 

§  1.  In  General 248 

§  2.  Conditions  of  Population  and  of  Politics    .  250 

§  3.  Conditions  of  Locality       ....  251 

§  4.  Applications  to  the  United  States        .         .251 

§  5.  Provisions  for  Peaceful  Subdivision    .         .  253 

PART  II. 
INTERNATIONAL    LAW. 

Chap.  I.  Preliminaries  of  International  Law  255 

§  1.  Classifications 255 

§  2.  Foundations 259 

§3.  Sources 262 

Chap.  II.  Most  General  International  Laws  .  265 

§  1.  Leagues 265 

§2.  Treaties 265 

§3.  Eminent  Domain 269 

§4.  Arbitration ,.  271 

§  5.  Naturalization  (Indicated) .         .         .         .271 

§  6.  Forms      . 272 

Chap.  III.  Affairs  in  Peace 272 

§  1.  Property  in  General 272 

§2.  The  "Tariff"    ...'..  273 

§  3.  The  "  Person/'— in  General        .         .         .273 

§  4.  Specialties  in  Marriage  and  Divorce   .         .  275 

§5.  Transgressors 277 

Chap.  IV.  Affairs  in  War 280 

§  1.  In  General 280 

§  2.  Relations  to  the  Individuals   of  the  Bel 
ligerent  Nations 281 

§  3.  Ways  and  Means  of  War  ....  285 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xix 

§  4.      The  Rights  of  Neutrals  according  to  Local-     PAGK 
ities       .         .        .         .         .         •        .288 

(a)      In  General 288 

(6)      Affairs  in  the  Locality  of  a  Neutral  .         .     291 

(c)      Affairs  in  Common  Localities     .         .         .     293 

Chap.  V.         Conclusion  of  International  Law  .     297 

PART    III. 

THE  DOCTRINE   OF   NATURALIZATION. 

Chap.  I.  Classifications     .                  .         .         .     297 

Chap.  II.  Collective  Naturalization         .         .     298 

Chap.  III.  Individual  Naturalization         .         .     300 

§  1.  The  Rights  of  the  Individual    .         .         .300 

§  2.  The  Rights  of  the  Renounced  Nation .         .     301 

§  3.  The  Rights  of  the  Adoptive  Nation  .         .     308 

§  4.  Personal  Conditions  .         .         .         .         .308 

(a)  In  General 308 

(b)  As  to  Preventing  Errors    .         .         .         .     308 

(c)  As  to  Proving  or  Producing  Fitness  .         .     308 


BOOK    IV. 

OOEPOEATIOK 


Chap.  (A)         Preface  to  Corporation     .         .         .     311 
MAIN    DIVISION    I. 

ARGUMENT    FOR    POLITICO-GOVERN- 
MENTAL    CORPORATIONS. 

SUB-DIVISION    I. 

ANTICIPATIONS    OF    GOVERNMENTAL    CORPORA- 

T 1 0  N  S. 

Chap.  I.  Anticipations  by  Facts      .         .         .     313 

§  1.  In  Religion  and  Morals     .         .         .         .313 

§  2.  In  Politics  and  Parties       .         .         .         .315 

§  3.      In  Education 317 

§  4.       In  Trade .318 

§  5.  Cosmopolitan  and  Migratory      .         .         .     319 


xx  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chap.  II.  Anticipations'by  Writers  .  .  321 
§  1.  The  Ancients,  and  the  Idealists .  .  .321 
§  2.  The  Modern  Scientists  .  ...  322 

(a)  Spencer  p.  322.     (6)  Guyot  p.  324. 

(c)  Mill  p.  324.    (d)  Carey  p.  325. 

(e)  Comte  p.  325.     (/)  Ballou  p.  326. 

(g)  Blanchard  p.  328.     (A)  French  School 

p.  329. 

SUB-DIVISION  II. 
RIGHT    OF    GOVERNMENTAL    CORPORATION. 

Chap.  I.  Statement  of  Position        .         .  .     330 

Chap.  II.  Rights  in  General        .         .         .  .331 

Chap.  III.  Rights  of  Naturalness        .         .  .333 

Chap.  IV.  Right  of  Individual  Selection  .     334 

Chap.  V.  Rights  of  Conscience          .         .  .     334 

SUB-DIVISION  III. 

ADVANTAGES    OF    GOVERNMENTAL    CORPORA 
TIONS. 

Chap.  I.          Advantages    Common   to   Precinct 

and  Corporation       .         .                  .  336 

§1.      In  General 336 

§  2.      Recapitulation  from  the  Precinct        .         .  336 
§  3.      Power  to  Resist  the  oppressive  and  central 
izing  tendencies  of  Modern  Society          .  338 
Chap.  II.        AdvantagesPeculiar  toCorporation  339 
§  1.      Analogies  in  Biology         ....  339 

§  2.      Prevention  of  War 340 

§  3.      Inconceivable  for  Secession         .         .         .  341 
§  4.       Self-Counteractions  Inherent  in  all  Volun 
tary  Combinations 341 

§  5.      Necessary  Harmony  of  all  the  Parts  of  So 
ciety      342 

§  6.  Culture  of  the  Individual ....  342 
§  7.  The  "  De-facto"  Argument  .  .  .343 
§  8.  Classes  most  Needing  Separate  Political 

Corporations 345 

§  9.      Comparison  with  Individuals,  as  Officials  .  346 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS.  xxj 


SUB-DIVISION    IV. 

PKACTICABILITY   OF    GOVERNMENTAL    CORPO 
RATIONS. 

PAGE 

Chap.  I.          In  General 347 

Chap.  II.        Abstract  Arguments  ....  348 

§  1.      Ill-success  of  Local-governments,  in  other  ' 

Businesses      .         .         ....         .  348 

§  2.      Intermingling,— Not  Confusion .         .         .  349 

§  3.      Ruskin's  Specimen  of  Methods .         .         .  350 

Chap.  III.      Analogous  Complexities  Successful  351 

§  1.      Analogy  with  Philadelphia  ....  351 

§  2.      Analogy  with  the  Roman  Church       .         .  352 

Chap.  IV.       Conclusion  of  Practicability   .         .  355 


MAIN    DIVISION    II. 

GENERAL  SURVEY  OF  AI>L  KINDS 
OF  CORPORATIONS,  ACCORDING  TO 
THEIR  SEVERAL  NATURES. 

SUB-DIVISION  I. 

RELATIONS    TO   THE    OTHER     ELEMENTS    OF    SO 
CIAL    SCIENCE. 

Chap.  I.          Preface 356 

Chap.  II.  Corporation  an  Element  of  Tribe    .  359 

Chap.  III.  Logical  Relations        ....  360 

Chap.  IV.  Real  Relations     .         .      -  .         .         .  361 

Chap.  V.  Differences    between    Corporations 

and  Localities ...        .         .         .  363 

§  1.  In  their  Nature          ...         .         .  363 

§  2.      In  their  Operation 364 

SUB-DIVISION  II. 
MISCELLANEOUS  CORPORATIONS. 

Chap.  I.  Classifications  .....  366 
.§  1.  Blackstone's  Classification  ....  366 
§  2.  Our  Preliminaries  .  367 


XX11 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


Chap.  II.        Corporations  classifiable  according 

to    Ten    Mentionable    Character-  PAGE 

istics 367 

§  (A)     Classification  of  the  Characteristics     .         .367 
§1.      As  Related  to  "The  Law"          .         .         .369 

§  2.      As  to  Secrecy 370 

§  3.      As  to  Monopolization         ....  371 
§  4.       As  to  Relations  to  Personal  Intercourse       .  371 
§  5.      As  to  the  Relation  of  Membership,  to  Of 
fice  in  them 372 

(a)  In  General 372 

(b)  Partnership 373 

(c)  The  Family       .         .         .       -  .         .         .373 
§  6.      As  to  Objects  in  view         .         .         .         .  375 

(a)  The  Physical 375 

(b)  The  Metaphysical 382 

§  7.       As  to  their  Nature :  Simple  or  Compound  .  383 

§  8.       As  to  the  Means  they  may  use    .         .         .  383 

§  9.      As  to  their  Relations  to  Locality         .         .  384 

(a)  Corporations  Not  embracing  and  governing 

their  Localities       .....  384 

(b)  Corporations    Embracing    and    Governing 

their  Localities 387 

§  10.      As  to  Governmental  and  Political  Functions  388 

MAIN   DIVISION    III. 

CORPORATIONS   WITH   POLITICO-GOV 
ERNMENTAL  FUNCTIONS. 

SUB-DIVISION  I. 
PRELIMINARIES. 

Chap.  I.  Classifications 389 

§  1.  Analytical  Table  of  Politico-Governmental 

Corporations 389 

Chap.  II.  Definition 389 

Chap.  III.  Governments  should  Select,  rather 

than  Create,  their  Corporations  .  390 
Chap.  IV.  Promotions  of  Corporations  .  .^390 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xxili 

Chap.  Y.         Corporations  to  be  Progressive  with     PAGJS 
the  Precinct 391 

SUB-DIVISION   II. 

CORPORATIONS  WIT  II  DERIVATIVE  POLITICAL 
FUNCTIONS. 

Chap.  I.  Explanation 392 

Chap.  II.  Corporations  for  Single  Functions  392 

§1.  In  General 392 

§  2.  For  Treatment  of  Criminals       .         .         .  394 

§3.  For  Collection  of  Taxes     .         .                  .  396 

§  4.  For  Police-and-Military  Functions     .         .  396 

§  5.  For  Civil-Executive  Functions  .         .         .397 

§  6.  For  Judicial  Functions      .         .         .         .397 

§  7.  For  Deliberative  Functions        .         .         >  398 

Chap.  III.  Corporations  for  General  Functions  399 

§1.  Classifications V  399 

§2.  Uses ,  400 

§3.  Genesis .  400 

SUB-DIVISION   III. 

CORPORATIONS  WITH   INHERENT   POLITICAL 
FUNCTIONS. 

Chap.  I.          Nature  of  this  Sub-Division    .         «.    402 
§  1.      Justification   of  the   Speculative,   and   the 

Abstract 402 

§  2.      Relation  to  the  Other  Elements  or  Parts     .     405 
§  3.       General  Statement  of  the  Theory        .         .406 
§  4.       Classifications    .....         .     407 

§  5.      Methods  of  Political  Expression         .         .     410 
Chap.  II.        First     Sub-Sub-Division: — Corpo 
rations  based  on  Single  Ideas      .     411 
§  1.      Specimens  of  the  Ideas       .         .         .         .411 

§  2.       Assumption  of  Fixed  Localities          .         .412 
§3.       Statement;  with  Fixed  Localities        .         .     413 
Chap.  III.      Second  Sub-Sub-Division: — Corpo 
rations  based  on  a  Few  Chief  Com 
binations  of  Ideas    ....     414 

§  1.      Nature  of  this  Sub-Sub-Division        .         .414 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

§  2.  Probable  Bases  or  Kinds  of  Classes ;  namely,  PA(tt 

Occupations,  Moralities  and  Politics  .  415 

(a)  In  General 415 

(6)  Statement  of  their  Functions  .  .  .418 

§  3.  Operation  in  "  Law"          ....  420 

(a)  The  Units  to  Govern  the  Geography  .         .  420 

(b)  Corporations  of  Occupation,  Not  to  Control 

Property  Out  of  the  Occupation      .         .     420 

(c)  Disputed  Jurisdiction          .         .         .         .421 
§  4.      Divine  Morality,  the  Great  General  of  All 

the  Bases 423 

(a)  Comte's  Generality-Principle,  with  a  New 

Turn     .         .         .         .         .         .         .423 

(b)  Scripture-Arguments          ....     424 
§  5.      Operation  in  the  Social  Circle    .         .         .425 
§  6.      Application,  Concrete  Instances  .         .     427 

(a)  The  Churches 427 

(b)  The  Communities 428 

SUB-DIVISION   IV. 

PARTIAL  ADOPTION,   UNDER  CONTRACTS    AND 
TRUSTS.  429 


BOOK   V. 

LIMITED    COMMUNISM. 


MAIN    DIVISION    I. 
NATURE    OF    COMMUNISM. 

SUB-DIVISION    I. 
IDEA    OF    COMMUNISM. 

Chap.  I.          Relation  to  our  General  Theory  of 
Social   Science,   and  to  the  Other 

Elements 433 

Chap.  II.        Classifications 437 

Chap.  III.      Ideals     .  438 

Chap.  I Y.       Necessity  of  Limitations.         .         .     439 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


SUB-DIVISION     II. 


XXV 


FOUNDATIONS    OF    COMMUNISM.  PAOT 

Chap.  I.             Benevolence 444 

Chap.  II.           The    Conditional    Mutual    Prin 
ciple        444 

Chap.  III.         Relation  to  Co-operation        .         .  446 
Chap.  IV.          Spiritual     Rewards,     instead     of 

Worldly  ones         ....  446 
Chap.  V.            Union    of    high    Moral    and    In 
tellectual  Conditions.         .         .  448 
Chap.  VI.          Relation     to     Strict     Righteous 
ness,  or  Perfectionism         .         .  450 
Chap.  VII.       Relation  to  Natural  Theology      .  452 
Chap.  VIII.      Sympathy  with  the  general  Chris 
tian  Church 454 

Chap.  IX.          The  Non-forcing,  Principle   .         .  456 
Chap.  X.            Anti-war  Principles         .         .         .  456 
Chap.  XL          Order,    Discipline     and     Punish 
ment        .......  457 

Chap.  XII.        Resort    to    Law,   and    of   holding 

Political  Offices          .         .         .458 
Chap.  XIII.      Fellowship  of  Truth       .         .         .458 

§  1.      Confession 458 

§  2.      Information 459 

§3.      Criticism 459 

Chap.  XIV.      Honor 459 

Chap.  XV.        Community-Occupations        .         .  460 
Chap.  XVI.      Religious  Exercises         .         .        .  460 
Chap.  XVII.    Communism    of   Labors   and    In 
comes      .         .         .         .        .        .  462 

§  1.      Plan,  in  General     .         .         .         .         .  462 

§  2.      Directors  and  Government      .         .         .465 

§  3.      Property,  Shares  and  Dividends      .         .466 

Chap.  XVIII.  Relations  of  Family  and  Sex        .  468 

Chap.  XIX.      Manners  and  Customs     .         .         .  470 

Chap.  XX.        Industry 471 

Chap.  XXL      The   Dispositions  and  Sources  of 

Danger 471 

Chap.  XXII.    The  Self-Sacrifice  Requisite         .  472 


xxvi  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

MAIN  DIVISION  II. 

THE  COMMUNITY'S  PRECAUTIONS  AND 
GUARDS  AGAINST  INDIVIDUALS. 

SUB-DIVISION    I. 
WAYS  AND   METHODS   OF   PRECAUTION. 

PAGE 

Chap.  I.          In  General   .         .         .  "      ,         .         .473 

Chap.  II.        By  Charter .473 

Chap.  III.      Substitutes  for  Explicit  Charters  .     474 

SUB-DIVISION   II. 

APPLICATION    AND    RECEPTION    OF    NEW  MEM 
BERS. 

Chap.  I.          Preparatory  Steps    towards    Mem 
bership       475 

Chap.  II.        Probationary  Residence  and  Life- 
Experience         476 

Chap.  III.      Affirmations,  Oaths  and  Covenants  477 
Chap.  IV.       Actual  Initiation         .         .         .         .477 

Chap.  V.        Discernment  of  Character         .         .  478 
Chap.  VI.       Instruction      Needed      concerning 

Communism       .....  478 

Chap.  VII.     Summary  of  Precautions, .         .         .  479 

SUB-DIVISION    III. 
GENERAL    TESTS  AND  QUALIFICATIONS. 

Chap.  I.  Choice  Combinations  of  Virtues  .  479 
§  1.  Harmony  of  Kindness  and  Truth  .  .479 
§  2.  Doing  to  and  Expecting  from  Others,  as 

We  would  They  should  Do,  as  to  Us  .  480 
§  3.  Attention  to  Inward  Character,  together 

with  the  Outward  ..'...  480 
§  4.  Combination  of  Purity  and  Humility  .  480 
§  5.  Intellectual  Appreciation  and  Affection, 

both  Needed 480 

§  6.  Attachment  to  the  Spirit,  and  Detachment 

from  the  Form 481 

§7.  Solitude  and  Sociability  .  .  .  .481 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  XXvii 

PAGE 

Chap.  II.         Disconnected  Tests     .         .         .         .481 

§  1.       Insincerity  purged  by  Secession,  in  Com 
munism          ......     481 

§2.      Freedom  from  Selfish* Prejudices         .         .     482 
§  3.       Virtuous  Habits,  Independently  of  seeking 

Communism 482 

§  4.       Continual    Aim    for    Individual-Improve 
ment  in  All  Things         .         .         .         .482 
§  5.      Personal  Compatibility      ....     482 

§6.      Obedience 483 

§7.      Contentment 483 

§  8.  Living  according  to  Utility  .  .  .483 
§  9.  Doing  Unpleasant  Duties  ....  484 
§  10.  Purity  of  Bodily  Health  .  .  .  .484 
§  11.  Applicants  to  Agree  with  the  Proposed  So 
ciety,  more  than  with  Any  Other  .  .  484 
§  12.  Tests  should  be  Stringent  in  Proportion  to 

Intellect  of  Applicant  ....  484 
Chap.  III.  Of  Special  Tests .  .  .  .  .  485 
Chap.  IV.  Practical  Simplicity  Coming  out  of 

this  Multiplicity      .         .         .         .485 

MAIN   DIVISION    III. 

THE  INDIVIDUAL'S  GUARDS  AND  PRO 
TECTION  AGAINST  THE   COMMUNE. 

SUB-DIVISION    I. 
FROM   THE    COMMUNE   AS   A    SOCIETY. 

Chap.  I.          General  Application  to  this  Use,  of 

all  the  Foregoing  Treatise   .         .     487 

SUB-DIVISION  II. 

PROTECTION  OF  THE    INDIVIDUAL  MEMBERS 
FROM    THE    RULERS   AND  OFFICERS,  AS   PER- 

SONS. 

Chap.  I.  Each  of  the  different  Powers  should 

have  its  Share  of  Officers  .  .  488 

Chap.  II.  Officers  should  be  superior  in  the 

Special  Virtues  .  .  .  .488 


xxviii  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

Chap.  III.      The    Government   of   the    Officers      PAOB 
should    be    Virtual,   before    it    is 
Formal 488 

Chap.  IV.       General    List    of   the    Virtues    re 
quired          ......     489 

Chap.  V.         Knowledge  of  Social  Science   .         .     469 

Chap.  VI.       Officers  should  be  talented  in  Se 
lecting  New  Members     .         .         .     489 

Chap.  VII.     The  Era  Producing  the  Best  Lead 
ers  has  Not  Yet  come     .         .         .     £90 

MAIN   DIVISION    IV. 

USES,    INCLUDING    ARGUMENTS   AND 
STATISTICS,    OF    COMMUNISM. 

SUB-DIVISION    I. 
ARGUMENTS    FROM    SCRIPTURE. 

Chap.  I.  Teachings  in  Scripture      .         .  .  491 

Chap.  II.  Practices  in  Scripture       .         .  .  493 

Chap.  III.  Scriptural  Limitations      .         .  .  494 

Chap.  IV.  Theory  of  1  Timothy  chap.  v.  .  .  496 

Chap.  V.  Relations  to  Celibacy         .         .  .  499 

§  1.  On  General  Principles       ....  499 

§  2.  On  Scripture  Grounds       .         .         .  .502 

SUB-DIVISION   II. 

ARGUMENTS    FROM    THE    UTILITIES   OF   COM- 
MUNISM. 

Chap.  I.          Its  Good  Tendencies  in  general      .  505 

Chap.  II.        Regeneration  of  Labor  and  Study  .  507 

Chap.  III.      Practicability 509 

Chap.  IV.       Anticipations   in  History         .         .  511 
Chap.  V.        The   Semi-recluse  Life  needed  for 
the     Higher    Spiritual    Attain 
ments  511 

Chap. .VL      Need    of    Release    for   Christians, 

from  Political  Governments        .  513 

Chap.  VII.     The  Kinds  of  Persons  nearly  ready  514 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

SUB-DIVISION   III. 
STATISTICS. 

Chap.  I.          A  Selection  of  Communes  that  have  PA01S 
Dissolved,  in  the  United  States  .  516 
Chap.  II.        Of  Successful    Communes,  in  Gen 
eral      .                 516 

Chap.  III.      Catholic  Communities  in  the  Uni 
ted  States 517 

Chap.  IV.       Protestant     Communities     in     the 
United  States,  without  Regular 

Marriage  .         .         .*      .        .         .  517 
§  1.      The  German  Seventh-Day  Baptist  Monastic 

Society.       -.        .:     V;     Y        •        .'  517 

§2.      The  Shaker  Societies .        .         .        V        .  518 

§3.      The  New  Harmony  Society        .         .         .519 

§4.      The  Oneida  Community    .         .         .        ,  519 

Chap.  V.         Communities  in  the  United  States 

with  Regular  Marriage.      ,  .        ^  520 

§  1.      The  Icaria  Association       .         .         . .-       .  520 

§  2.       The  Bethel  and  Aurora  Communities         .  521 

§  3.      The  Zoar  Separatists7  Community       .         ;  521 

§  4.       The  Amana  Inspirationists'  Community      .  522 
§5.      The  Brocton  Community   .         .         .         ..522 

§6.      Conclusion        .         .         ..        .        .  523 


BOOK   I. 

SUMMAET    INTRODUCTION. 


PART    I. 

PRINCIPLES    OF    THE    STUDY. 
CHAP.    I.      IN   GENERAL. 

THIS  article  (namely  "  Book  I.")  proposes  to  give  the  theory 
of  Social  Science  in  its  Universal  Principles.  These  principles 
(or  laws)  of  Social  Science,  may  be  divided  into  two  sorts.  One 
sort  relates  to  the  progress  of  the  SCIENCE  ;  and  the  other  sort 
relates  to  the  movements  of  SOCIETY  itself.  Accordingly,  this 
Summary  Introduction  is  divided  into  two  parts ;  corresponding 
to  those  two  sorts  of  laws.  It  proposes,  in  its  first  part,  to  con 
sider  the  nature  and  laws  of  Social  Science  as  a  STUDY  :  and 
then,  in  its  secon  !  part,  endeavors  to  point  out  some  of  the 
fundamental  and  spontaneous  powers  and  principles  of  society 
itself.  And  in  this  second  part,  the  Introduction  proposes  to 
touch  only  the  formulae  and  laws,  which  are  too  general  for  any 
other  position  in  the  science :  because  all  the  remainder  of  our 
books  on  this  subject,  will  be  devoted  to  the  FURTHER  elucidation 
of  those  objective  principles  of  SOCIETY.  But  as  to  the  laws  of 
the  STUDY,  we  shall  but  seldom  ever  refer  to  them  again,  after 
we  shall  have  passed  through  the  first  part  of  this  Introduction. 

CHAP.   II.      DEFINITION  OF  SOCIAL   SCIENCE. 

focial  Science  may  be  defined  to  be  the  Philosophy  of  Poli 
tics.  It  is  a  kind  of  high-politics,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  sciences  for  Americans ;  yet,  from  its  rela 
tion  to  morals  and  metaphysics  and  class  prejudices,  it  cannot 
be  studied  with  the  same  degree  of  disregard  of  subjective  and 
personal  feelings  and  notions,  with  which  other  sciences  may  be 
pursued.  In  this  respect  it  is  like  its  kindred  studies  history 

i9 


20  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  II. 

and  theology.  Hence,  more  than  in  any  other  study,  the  animus 
of  the  writer  must  be  borne  in  mind,  and  be  duly  allowed  for. 
Social  Science  is  moral  in  its  very  nature ;  although  hitherto  it 
seems  to  have  been  abandoned  to  the  "  infidels"  and  the  socialists. 

The  fundamental  conception  of  Comte's  work,  after  eliminating 
its  atheism,  is  a  conception  at  once  not  only  of  the  highest  gen 
eralization,  but  also  of  deepest  insight.  It  is  the  conception  that 
Social  Science  comes  in  place  of  an  obsolete  ecclesiastical  and 
metaphysical  positive  theology,  and  tends  to  produce  a  new 
intellectual  hierarchy.  This  conception  arises  from  the  insight, 
that  just  as  Social  Science  is  now  practically  the  most  general 
and  the  most  all-embracing  of  the  sciences,  including  even 
theology  and  religion  itself;  so,  in  the  preceding  ages,  theology 
had  been  the  i  ost  general  of  them  all.  Hence  it  was,  that  it 
had  absorbed  the  greatest  and  best  minds  of  the  Middle  Ages : 
and  hence  too  it  was,  that  the  churchmen  of  those  days  were 
the  greatest  statesmen,  and  that  the  statesmen  of  the  Roman 
Chur  •!)  are  seldom  surpassed,  even  at  this  late  day.  And  our 
Bolingbroke  calls  religion  "The  First  Philosophy,"  which  is 
true  in  more  senses  than  he  meant  it. 

But  in  assenting  to  Comte's  assertion,  that  Social  Science 
comes  in  place  of  an  obsolete  metaphysical  theology, — we  are  to 
be  understood,  as  only  referring  to  their  functions  in  the  or 
ganization  of  church  and  of  state;  but  not  at  all  as  referring  to 
their  functions  in  the  contemplation  of  religion  by  the  Individual. 

The  science  of  society  is  the  science  of  the  dispensations  of 
Providence.  Because,  so  far  as  Providence  is  only  general,  and 
is  fulfilled  by  regular  laws,  and  in  the  order  of  cause  and  effect, 
so  far  it  must  be  fulfilled  by  the  progress  and  laws  of  society,  as 
much  as  it  is  fulfilled  in  this  life  at  all.  This  is  the  same  thing 
in  effect,  as  to  say  that  Sociology  is  the  study  of  the  laws  of 
Providence.  All  history  and  all  Social  Science  abound  with 
facts  illustrative  of  this  idea.  And  yet,  most  religious  people 
seem  to  think,  that  Providence  will  take  care  of  things  so  well 
that  there  is  no  se  for  Social  Science ;  yet  one  of  the  very  ways 
whereby  Providence  docs  take  care  of  things,  is  by  the  teaching 
of  examples.  And  these  examples,  it  is  the  specia'  business  of 
Social  Science  to  study  and  to  classify.  And  some  religionists 
even  fling  the  insinuation  against  Social  Scientists,  that  they  are 


DEFINITION   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE.  21 

trying  to  "  help  God  govern  the  world."  But  the  same  objec 
tion  lies  equally  strong,  against  the  followers  of  every  science 
which  has  for  its  direct  object  to  benefit  man;  and  especially 
against  doctors  of  medicine.  And  the  objection  lies  much 
stronger  against  theologians  and  churchmen,  that  THEY  are 
trying  to  help  God  govern  the  world.  Yet  St.  Paul  expressly 
says,  "We  are  laborers  together  with  God."  (1  Cor.  iii.  9,  and 
2  Cor.  vi.  1.)  And  the  fact  is,  that  everybody,  so  far  as  he  uses 
his  faculties  aright,  helps  God  govern  the  world.  And  the 
only  pity  is,  that  religionists  do  not  study  divine  Providence 
better ;  so  that  they  would  help  God  more,  to  govern  the  world. 
If  we  turn  now  to  practical  applications,  we  will  find  that 
Social  Science  runs  nearly  parallel  to  Christianity,  and  often 
coincides  with  it.  On  this  subject  we  will  quote  from  Wendell 
Phillips,  who  will  surely  be  held  free  from  the  charge  of  par 
tiality  towards  religion.  And  observe,  that  what  he  says  of  the 
Church  is  equally  true  of  the  State ;  and  THAT  is  the  applica 
tion  we  desire  the  reader  to  make,  all  through  the  quotation. 

In  his  speech  before  the  Free  Religious  Association,  May  28, 
1868,  he  says,  "The  records  of  Christianity  hold,  it  seems  to 
me,  a  very  large  measure  of  the  lessons  that  Social  Science 
needs.  In  the  first  place,  the  Christian  records  are  principles ; 
but  the  church  is  an  alleviative.  It  approaches  evils  to  alle 
viate  them,  not  to  cure  them.  THAT  is  not  the  New  Testament 
method.  There  are  two -ways  of  touching  evils.  If  the  gas 
was  escaping  in  this  room  we  should  open  the  ventilators  and 
relieve  ourselves.  That  is  relief.  To-morrow,  the  superintend 
ent  would  send  for  a  gas-fitter,  and  he  would  stop  the  leak. 
That  is  cure.  Now,  as  I  look  at  it,  all  action  of  the  church 
approaches  poverty  to  make  it  comfortable :  it  approaches  crime 
to  endeavor  to  soften  it :  it  approaches  prostitution,  to  shield  it 
from  temptation.  That  is  relief.  That  is  opening  the  windows 
to  get  rid  of  the  leaking  gas.  But  Social  Science  and  the  re 
ligious  philosophy  of  the  New  Testament,  while  they  attempt 
all  that,  prescribe  that  the  really  religious  intellect  should  seek 
not  relief,  but  cure." 

Indeed,  Social  Science  and  Christianity  run  parallel  to  each 
other,  most  of  their  length  :  Social  Science  doing  for  society,  in 
most  things,  what  Christianity  is  doing  for  the  individual. 


22  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  III. 

• 

•CHAP.  III.      SCOPE   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE. 

§  1.  In  General. 

Now  observe  the  rank  and  grade  of  Social  Science  among 
the  four  most  general  sciences ;  namely,  Theology,  Metaphysics, 
Sociology,  and  Mathematics,  (Moral  Science  being  here  regarded 
as  composed  of  elements  or  extracts,  partly  from  Theology,  and 
partly  from  Metaphysics ;)  and  observe  also,  that  their  general- 
ness  is  in  the  order  above  named,  and  that  we  only  claim  for 
our  science,  a  position  as  third  in  this  order  of  generality.  But 
we  have  not  space  to  enlarge  upon  this  comparison. 

§  2.  Locus  of  intersection  with  the  other  sciences. 

We  are  now  to  consider  the  locus,  that  is  to  say,  the  principal 
points  or  properties,  of  the  intersection  of  Social  Science  with  the 
other  sciences  that  are  most  nearly  connected  with  it.  We  may 
consider  criminal  law,  civil  law,  constitutional  law,  and  inter 
national  law,  as  separate  parts  of  one  general  science,  under  the 
name  of  the  Law.  Then  we  may  consider  Political  Economy  as 
the  science  of  producing  and  distributing  property,  or  rather,  as 
the  science  of  industry.  Then,  by  taking  these  two  sciences  to 
gether,  namely  the  Law  and  Political  Economy,  we  have  the  sub 
stance  of  Political  Science.  But,  inasmuch  as  Political  Science 
looks  too  much  to  polity,  and  to  the  present,  it  becomes  necessary 
to  consider  the  Philosophy  of  History,  and  thus,  to  perfect  the 
politician  into  a  statesman,  by  introducing  the  experience  of  the 
past.  •  Now  the  Philosophy  of  History  becomes  the  "  History 
of  Civilization,"  only  when  we  assume  a  continual  progress  of 
civilization  in  all  the  past ;  and  as  this  is  a  somewhat  disputed 
question,  the  Philosophy  of  History  is  to  be  preferred  as  em 
bracing  the  others. 

But  the  statesmen  produced  by  all  the  sciences  just  mentioned, 
have  their  ideas  limited  too  closely  to  the  facts  and  changes  that 
are  occurring  in  the  present,  or  that  actually  have  occurred  in 
the  past, — but  without  any  philosophical  conception  of  the  rad 
ical  changes  that  might  occur.  Their  solutions  and  remedies  are 
consequently  too  special,  and  have  no  scientific  or  absolute  ex 
pressions  or  formulae.  Now  the  business  of  Social  Science  is, 
to  investigate  the  changes  of  society  by  general  principles,  and 
to  hold  the  results  in  general  formulae,  of  which  all  past  and 
present  facts  are  only  particular  instances. 


USES   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE.  23 

Then  it  happens  that  statesmen  sometimes  find  that  morality 
and  doing  right  are  a  safer  guide  than  the  highest  wisdom 
of  experience;  and  sometimes  they  would  prefer  to  do  right, 
whether  it  was  expedient  or  not,  as  far  as  they  can  see.  Here 
then,  it  becomes  necessary  to  appeal  to  Moral  Philosophy ;  but 
we  consider  Moral  Philosophy  only  in  the  light  of  a  combina 
tion  of  parts  selected  from  Theology  and  Metaphysics.  In 
considering  formulae  so  very  general  as  they  then  become,  Meta 
physics  is  applied  to  also,  because  it  treats  of  the  most  important 
laws  of  the  very  beings  who  constitute  society.  By  this  time 
the  formulae  have  become  so  very  general,  that  the  common 
classifications  of  historical  facts  become  of  less  importance.  Re 
sort  is  then  had  for  analogies  to  all  the  sciences,  from  Gravita 
tion  up  to  Zoology.  The  most  general  laws  of  universal  nature 
are  then  found  to  be  applicable. 

In  this  respect,  Social  Science  acts  much  like  Natural  The 
ology.  It  ranges  through  all  the  sciences,  culling  the  general 
principles  of  each,  digesting  and  assimilating  them  to  itself. 
And  while  it  omits  not  any  one  of  the  sciences,  from  the  lowest 
to  the  highest ;  it  nevertheless  finds  most  of  its  nutriment  in  the 
higher  ones,  such  as  Zoology,  Anatomy,  Physiology,  Instinct, 
Metaphysics,  and  Morals.  And  so  wide  is  its  range,  that  it 
touches  all  the  sciences  which  earnest  men  think  and  feel  about, 
in  their  deepest  and  most  serious  moments. 

CHAP.  IV.      USES. 

§  1 .  Implied  in  its  Definition  and  Scope. 

Many  of  the  uses  are  so  plainly  implied  in  its  definition  and 
scope,  that  they  need  not  be  repeated  now,  having  been  suffi 
ciently  touched  above. 

§  2.  Magnitude  of  Oivil  and  Political  Evils. 

Nowhere  are  the  intentions  of  men  so  often  and  so  utterly 
frustrated,  as  in  legislation.  Here  truly,  "  things  are  not  what 
they  seem."  In  this  country,  laws  intended  to  preserve  morality, 
to  shut  taverns  on  Sunday,  or  to  close  bawdy  houses, — gener 
ally  have  as  their  main  result,  the  causing  bribes  to  be  paid  to 
policemen  or  other  officials.  Laws  intended  to  limit  the  power 
of  corporations,  end  with  putting  bribes  into  the  pockets  of  the 
leaders  of  the  legislature,  or  else  of  the  judges.  Laws  intended 


24  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  IV. 

to  help  a  weak  company,  only  help  its  directors  to  help  themselves 
at  the  expense  of  the  community.  Laws  intended  to  prevent 
gambling,  only  drive  the  gambling  into  commerce,  and  so,  cor 
rupt  the  channels  of  ordinary  trade.  Laws  to  compel  specie 
payments,  only  shut  up  the  banks  altogether.  Laws  intended 
to  befriend  renters  at  the  expense  of  owners,  only  drive  honest 
and  cautious  men  out  of  the  business  of  renting  entirely,  and 
increase  the  competition  among,  and  the  risks  to  be  paid  by,  the 
renters.  Laws  to  oppress  any  class  of  people,  first  drive  them 
to  deception,  and  next  drive  them  out  of  your  jurisdiction,  and 
next  tend  to  raise  up  friends  for  the  oppressed.  Even  fashion, 
intended  originally  to  separate  the  great  from  the  little,  tends 
instead,  to  produce  unusual  extravagance,  and  finally  becomes 
the  mark  of  disreputableness.  Customs  intended  to  secure  honest 
men,  become  only  traps  to  catch  the  simple,  or  barricades  to 
shield  rogues. 

The  THEORY  of  politics  and  of  trade  and  of  the  public  press,  is, 
OPEN  knowledge  or  open  market,  and  competition,  and  gradual 
changes :  the  PRACTICE  of  politics  and  trade  is,  false  news,  secret 
combinations,  and  sudden  revolutions.  Hence  it  is  necessary, 
as  Spencer  says,  to  enquire,  not  only  what  is  to  be  done,  but  also 
how  to  do  it.  A  man  intending  to  reach  the  moon,  might  rup 
ture  himself,  and  he  would  still  reach  his  aim  sooner  than  some 
legislators  or  leaders  will  reach  their  objects,  by  the  means  they 
are  using :  and  the  same  will  apply  to  some  of  the  philosophers, 
and  their  proposed  "laws"  And  although  most  of  these  re 
marks  apply  more  directly  to  statute  law  only,  and  not  so  plainly 
to  those  deeper  and  spontaneous  social  laws,  which  work,  both 
over  and  under  and  within  and  without  government, — yet  in 
their  spirit  and  principle,  they  apply  also  to  those  deep  and 
spontaneous  social  laws.  Thus  there  arises  the  necessity  and 
ihe  use  of  a  true  SCIENCE  on  the  subject. 

And  then  furthermore,  our  politicians  and  statesmen  need 
such  an  enlarged  scope  of  ideas  as  will  set  them  to  guarding 
against  COMING  evils,  rather  than  to  be  forever  providing 
against  antiquated  and  worn-out  ones.  It  is  the  misfortune  of 
some  peoples  and  of  some  governments,  to  be  always  guarding 
and  fortifying  themselves  against  old  dangers,  and  in  fear  of  a 
return  of  exploded  errors.  They  are  forever  making  constitu- 


USES   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE.  25 

tions  and  laws,  to  protect  themselves  from  those  evils  which  the 
progress  of  society,  or  its  new  form  of  government,  has  already 
rendered  impossible ;  but  yet,  working  in  the  midst  of  a  verbiage 
of  literality  and  legality  and  of  cares  and  fears  about  "  the  worn- 
out" — they  are  neglecting  to  see  or  provide  for  the  very  evils 
that  are  surrounding  them,  and  it  may  be,  even  sapping  the 
foundation  of  their  rights,  liberties,  and  happiness.  This  danger 
and  evil,  which  is  liable  to  befall  any  country,  is  especially  the 
bane  and  hindrance  to  our  own.  In  the  midst  of  dangers  from 
bribery  by  vast  railway  and  other  corporations,  we  provide  against 
those  only  of  individuals.  In  the  midst  of  all  the  evils  of  dema- 
gogism,  we  are  forever  providing  guards  against  monarchy. 
Governed  and  tyrannized  over,  by  secret  cliques  of  unprincipled 
and  rapacious  politicians,  and  their  colleagued  contractors, — we 
are  continually  guarding  against  an  aristocracy  of  birth  or  honest 
wealth.  Endangered  by  the  scum  and  dregs  of  vice  and  prison 
degradation  of  all  the  world,  we  are  forever  providing  against 
aristocracy.  In  the  midst  of  a  tangle  of  laws,  allowing  almost 
all  criminals  to  escape,  we  are  always  providing  more  guards 
for  the  liberty  of  unknown  and  unsettled  individuals,  and  thus 
fostering  and  covering  individual  secrecy. 

One  of  the  uses  of  Social  Science,  is  to  enable  us  to  foresee 
great  revolutions  and  rebellions ;  and  either  to  avert  them,  or 
to  provide  means  for  personal  escape  or  relief,  when  we  cannot 
influence  or  prevent  them.  The  Saviour  says,  "  When  they 
persecute  you  in  one  city,  flee  ye  to  another/' 

§  3.  Philosophical  Basis  Wanted. 

Comte  truly  says,  "  In  the  present  stage,  philosophical  con 
templation  and  labors  are  more  important  than  political  action,  in 
regard  to  social  regeneration ;  because  a  basis  is  the  thing  wanted ; 
while  there  is  no  lack  of  political  measures,  more  or  less  pro 
visional,  which  preserve  material  order  from  invasion  by  the 
restless  spirits  that  come  forth  during  a  season  of  intellectual 
anarchy.  The  governments  are  relying  on  corruption  and  on 
repressive  force,  while  philosophers  are  elaborating  principles ; 
and  what  the  philosophers  have  to  expect  from  wise  govern 
ments  is,  that  they  will  not  interfere  with  the  task  while  in  pro 
gress,  nor  hereafter  with  the  gradual  application  of  its  results." 

We  may  observe,  how  much  the  need  of  Social  Science  is 


26  'BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      I.  IV. 

shown  and  proved,  by  the  mistakes  and  defects  of  the  very 
men  who  have  of  late  produced  works  on  this  science,  including 
also  Comte  himself.  We  might  mention  their  ignoring  gener 
ally,  the  depth  and  reality  of  sin,  and  the  real  moral  spontaneity 
of  man.  Also,  Spencer's  idea  of  the  spontaneous  evanescence  of 
evil ;  also  Spencer's  idea,  that  the  deadly  and  killing  spirit  was 
an  absolute  necessity  to  enable  mankind  to  clear  the  world  of  the 
noxious  animals;  Comte's  idea,  that  the  social  feelings  wisely 
enlightened,  are  capable  of  enabling  man  to  overcome  and  out 
grow  his  own  selfishness;  Comte's  idea  of  the  power  of  physi 
ological  knowledge  to  overcome  all  evils;  Buckle's  idea,  that 
society  has  derived  no  benefit  from  metaphysics;  Mulford's  idea, 
that  nation  is  the  only  politico-social  unit  or  person ;  some  theo 
logians'  idea,  that  orthodoxy  or  conversion  is  alone  sufficient  to 
enable  men  to  overcome  evil ; — and  finally,  that  perversion  of 
morals,  which  assumes  that  because  social  evils  are  the  ordinance 
of  Providence,  therefore  the  effort  to  do  away  with  them  is  con 
trary  to  Providence. 

Social  Science  is  passing  through,  or  must  yet  pass  through, 
its  period  of  criticism,  even  as  the  other  sciences  do.  Just  as 
Comte  has  shown,  that  the  critical  "r&^me"  in  civilization  and 
in  social  affairs,  must  necessarily  only  be  transient  and  prepara 
tory  ;  so  (to  turn  the  tables  upon  him)  we  say,  that  the  criticism 
and  rejection  of  religion  from  science,  will  be  found  to  be  only 
a  temporary  and  preparatory  stage,  although  perhaps  a  neces 
sary  one;  but  that  afterwards  the  critics  will  criticise  away  their 
criticisms,  and  so,  God  be  restored  to  nature  and  to  science, 
more  fully  and  more  truly  than  ever. 

§  4.  Improvement  of  Humanity  consistent  with  free-will. 

There  is  in  the  minds  of  many  persons,  a  lurking  doubt  of 
the  use  of  Social  Science ;  on  the  assumption,  that  the  general 
course  of  human  events  is  a  fixed  destiny.  But  to  this  we  an 
swer:  the  same  objection  might  be  made  to  the  use  of  means,  in 
many  other  matters  of  which  wre  may  believe  the  end  to  be 
fixed.  And  a  still  better  answer  is,  that  the  objection  is  an 
unjustifiable  inference  from  the  facts  adduced  by  it.  It  alleges 
the  uniformity  of  certain  very  general  facts  found  in  statistical 
tables,  such  as  that  the  number  of  deaths  per  year,  on  the  aver 
age,  is  the  same  in  different  years,  by  each  particular  disease, 


USES   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE.  27 

and  by  suicide,  and  even  by  suicide  in  each  particular  occupa 
tion.  But  these  facts  only  prove  the  doctrine  of  chances ;  the 
law  of  our  BELIEF,  but  NOT  the  CAUSATION  of  events.  And 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  infinity ;  of  an  infinite  number  of 
really  free  acts,  all  will  not  go  one  way;  for  the  larger  the  num 
ber  of  really  free  acts,  the  stronger  is  the  certainty  of  our  belief 
that  their  diversities  will  be  exactly  in  proportion  to  their  abso 
lute  freedom  in  each  particular  case.  But  this  universality  does 
not  introduce  any  new  element  of  power. 

However,  true  knowledge  lessens  the  power  of,  and  hence 
lessens  the  freedom  of  evil.  Thus  Social  Science  benefits 
mankind  by  lessening  the  temptations,  and  by  bettering  the 
conditions. 

We  affirm  that  the  improvement  of  humanity  is  consistent 
with  free  will.  Temptation  is  a  probationary  and  a  proportional 
power.  We  set  it  down  as  a  certain  moral  truth,  that  the  greater 
the  temptation  to  which  Mankind  are  exposed,  the  greater  will 
be  the  sainthood  of  those  who  overcome,  but  the  fewer  will  be 
the  number  of  the  persons  who  do  overcome;  and  vice  versa. 
Even  suppose  that  Social  Scientists  may  not  expect  to  make 
people  religiously  better,  or  even  morally  better,  considered  as 
to  their  heart  or  intention ;  yet  they  expect,  by  lessening  the 
powers  of  temptation  around  people,  to  make  them  ACTUALLY 
both  better  and  happier.  For  we  all  know  that  man  is  to  some 

extent  the  creature  of  circumstances. 

i 

§  5.  Influence  on  Other  Sciences. 

Another  use  of  Social  Science  is,  that  it  brings  improvements 
in  all  the  various  sciences,  even  in  Mathematics ;  and  this  it 
does  by  their  reciprocal  influences,  and  from  the  very  general- 
ness  of  Social  Science.  This,  Comte  points  out  theoretically, 
and  also  illustrates  it  by  his  own  example  frequently,  in  point 
ing  out  improvements  in  the  other  sciences,  evidently  suggested 
by  this  one.  Thus  the  study  itself  is  most  thoroughly  made  up 
of  wisdom  and  progress. 

When  we  consider  the  great  elements  of  human  progress, 
how  indissolubly  they  are  found  to  be  connected  with  one  an 
other  ;  we  find  that  one  will  bring  on  another,  as  Comte  remarks 
in  regard  to  the  relations  of  truth  and  beauty, — that  while  in 
the  lower  stages  of  civilization,  the  fine  arts  lead  to  intellectual 


28  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  IV. 

culture,  so  in  a  higher  stage  of  civilization,  intellectual  culture 
seeks  at  least  its  recreation  in  the  fine  arts.  Thus,  of  insepa 
rable  elements,  either  one  may  be  cause,  and  the  other  effect ;  so 
then,  Theology  and  Social  Science  are  related  together  so  insep 
arably,  that  it  may  be  hoped  that  in  the  future,  Social  Science 
will  lead  men  back  to  Theology. 

Comte  himself,  in  his  latter  days,  avows  a  Deity  to  be  the 
ultimate  compound  and  integration  of  humanity ;  and  the 
doctrine  of  Deity,  to  be  a  necessary  result  of  Sociology;  thus 
showing,  both  by  his  experience  and  his  theory,  the  intimate 
connection  between  Social  Science  and  Theology. 

Comte  also  teaches,  that  Social  Science,  in  turn  exerts  a  vastly 
improving  power  on  the  natural  and  biological  sciences ;  so  also 
we  may  hope  it  will,  in  turn,  exercise  a  greatly  improving  influ 
ence  on  Theology  itself,  which  is  a  pre-eminent  branch  of  the 
Highest  Biology ! 

§  6.  Summary  of  Uses. 

In  general  we  may  say, — the  use  of  Social  Science  is  to  point 
out  how  really  to  benefit  mankind  by  law  and  voluntary  benev 
olence,  instead  of  by  merely  well-intentioned  but  vain  and  actu 
ally  injurious  attempts ;  to  point  out  the  natural  rights  and  duties 
of  all,  and  how  really  to  accomplish  them.  The  pursuit  of  Social 
Science  would  always  be  found  to  furnish  "  new  themes  to  the 
Protestant  clergy,"  and  to  all  other  clergies,  and  to  all  kinds  of 
moral  improvers.  It  would  tend  to  the  promotion  of  virtue 
and  health,  the  prolongation  of  life,  and  to  the  general  morality 
and  happiness  of  mankind. 

The  sum  of  all  the  uses  of  Social  .Science  is,  that  without  its 
aid  morality  itself  cannot  prevail  permanently  among  mankind. 
Accordingly,  Comte  (Pos.  Phil.  p.  787)  says,  "A  universal  senti 
ment  of  duty  can  prevail  only  through  the  culture  of  the  most  gen 
eral  ideas,  and  thr  ugh  the  rule  of  the  spirit  of  generality  "  But 
observe,  that  the  spirit  of  generality  found  only  in  Social  Sci 
ence,  is  just  a  new  name  for  the  prevalence  of  a  morality  founded 
on  universal  utilities,  that  is,  a  spiritual  morality ;  as  the  spirit 
(in  Metaphysics)  is  necessary  to  the  prevalence  of  theoretical 
Theology.  Again,  Comte  truly  says,  "The  Theological  sanc 
tions  of  morality  have  become  inefficient  on  the  popular  mind ; 
yet  morality  itself,  expressing  as  it  does  the  feelings  of  human- 


USES   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE.  29 

ity,  craves,  or  is  ready  to  receive,  some  other  sanctions ;  and  in 
cultivated  civilization  especially,  is  ready  to  receive  intellectual 
sanction,  that  is,  will  welcome  Social  Science  as  the  best  sub 
stitute  for  metaphysical  Theology." 

§  7.  Modes  of  Influence. 

Social  Science  in  its  application  to  the  improvement  of  society, 
operates  in  two  ways ;  one,  by  improving  and  enlightening  the 
men  who  lead  society ;  and  the  other,  by  enlightening  contenting 
and  keeping  in  order,  the  mass  of  the  Individuals  of  which 
society  consists,  so  that  the  natural  laws  of  society's  life  have 
opportunity  to  develop  and  produce  their  results.  And  the 
science  teaches  all  men  more  and  more,  the  impotence  of  man  in 
self-will,  and  the  necessity  of  all  to  wait  on  Nature  more  rever 
ently  and  patiently. 

Furthermore,  the  improvement  of  the  science  aifords  the 
means  for  improving  society  itself,  just  as  the  improvement  of 
any  science,  prepares  the  way  for  the  improvement  of  all  the 
arts  that  depend  upon  it. 

Here  it  might  be  asked  whether  the  influences  of  this  science 
can  ever  become  practically  and  politically  available  in  a  Repub 
lican  government,  especially  in  this  country  ?  We  answer :  the 
general  knowledge  which  Social  Science  requires,  (it  being  that 
science  which  takes  only  the  general  elements  of  all  the  sciences) 
— shows  most  readily  to  the  general  public,  the  real  learning  and 
the  mental  discipline  of  the  study,  and  of  its  successful  students. 
Moreover,  the  great  principles  of  each  of  the  sciences  can  be 
made  very  plain  to  the  popular  mind,  according  as  one  person 
or  another  has  natural  aptitude  for  each  of  the  particular  studies 
to  which  the  general  ideas  belong.  And  by  selecting  and  grasp 
ing  several  or  all  of  these  general  ideas  only,  a  Sociologist  may 
be  comprehended  and  appreciated  by  the  masses,  and  exert  an 
influence  for  good,  even  if  the  people  were  not  able  to  compre 
hend  his  plan  or  theories  AS  A  WHOLE.  And  the  fact  is,  the 
GENERAL  elements  of  the  sciences  are  just  the  ones  that  are 
easiest  remembered,  and  are  the  most  beautiful,  and  the  most 
interesting  to  the  common  people.  So  that  the  minds  duly 
trained  to  perceive  and  select  such  elements,  will  be  the  minds 
well  trained  and  well  adapted  to  interest  people  generally,  and 
thus  exercise  such  influences  as  would  be  permanent. 


30  BK-  L      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  V. 

CHAP.   V.      PEEPAEATOEY   STUDIES. 
§  1.  In  General;  and  Methods. 

Much  has  been  said  as  to  WHICH  are  the  most  suitable  studies. 
But  the  inquiry,  HOW  the  student  should  pursue  the  preparatory 
studies,  is  quite  as  important  as  what  ones  they  are  in  particular. 
The  first  and  most  striking  peculiarity  is,  that  the  student  must 
bestow  his  attention,  not  on  the  usual,  but  on  the  most  unusual 
facts  or  phenomena  in  each  science.  Thus,  monstrosities,  as  well 
as  extraordinary  excellencies,  are  to  be  studied.  Hence  it  is 
necessary  for  the  Social  Scientist  to  consider  such  subjects  as 
sudden  conversion,  war,  and  the  arts  and  tricks  of  speculators, 
and  of  professional  politicians;  also  such  peoples  as  Quakers, 
Pitcairn  Islanders,  also  soldiers,  sailors,  and  others,  whose  mode 
of  life  is  very  unusual,  also  the, successful  communities,  including 
many  Catholic  and  a  few  Protestant  ones ;  also  the  various  in 
formal  corporations  of  trades,  guilds,  rebels,  school-boys,  profes 
sional  criminals,  and  so  on.  Furthermore,  it  is  very  desirable 
that  the  methods  should  be  pointed  out  by  which  the  sciences 
have  progressed,  and  the  kind  of  'circumstantial  evidence,  and 
succession  of  hypothesis  after  hypothesis,  continually  hedging 
the  certainty  within  narrower  limits,  without  ever  obtaining 
mathematically  absolute  certainty.  For,  even  in  the  higher 
branches  of  mathematics,  in  the  transcendental  functions  and  in 
the  Calculus,  it  is  not  the  a  priori  demonstration  that  satisfies 
the  mind ;  but  the  fact  that  the  results  and  formulae  following- 
from  the  hypothesis,  solve  all  the  questions,  and  in  all  the  appli 
cations  to  which  they  can  be  put,  especially  those  Avhose  results 
were  previously  known. 

In  the  selection,  then,  of  the  sciences  which  should  be  pre 
paratory  to  Social  Science,  one  principle  of  the  selection  should 
be  to  choose  those  that  will  most  readily  allow  or  encourage  their 
being  pursued  in  the  analytical  methods ;  approximating,  as 
closely  as  is  convenient,  the  actual  processes  of  relevant  thoughts 
that  really  produced  the  results  as  we  have  them. 

Of  Mathematics  nothing  need  be  said,  because  it  is  the  dis 
cipline  and  transcendental  form  or  type  for  all  the  sciences. 
§  2.   Theology. 

We  observe  here,  that  the  study  of  Theology,  by  any  person 
who  is  open  to  conviction,  and  is  anxious  to  judge  impartially 


PREPARATORY   STUDIES.  31 

for  himself,  and  who  is  also  anxious  for  his  soul's  salvation,  is 
peculiarly  analytic,  and  presents  in  each  one's  own  mind  a  his 
tory  peculiarly  his  own.  And  often  that  history  is  a  life-long 
history,  reaching  to  what  is  deepest  in  human  nature,  drawing 
out  its  capacity  and  sincerity  to  the  utmost,  and  furnishing  a  dis 
cipline  peculiarly  excellent  for  enabling  the  mind  to  judge  of 
the  recondite  truths  of  human  and  divine  activities.  Such  a 
study  of  Theology  now-a-days,  bears  the  same  relation  to  other 
studies,  as  the  study  of  Theology  itself,  in  the  days  when  the 
student's  life  depended  on  his  opinions,  bears  to  its  common 
study  now. 

The  study  of  Theology  is  the  scientific  study  of  religion,  and 
therefore  calls  into  exercise  all  the  higher  faculties  of  the  mind. 
Hence  it  is  one  of  the  best  preparations  for  earnest  original 
study  in  any  of  the  sciences.  The  success  of  the  German  and 
Scotch  metaphysicians  is  chiefly  owing  to  this  cause.  And  even 
of  the  pre-eminent  mathematical  arid  physical  scientists,  Can- 
dolle's  statistics  show,  as  to  the  professions  of  their  sires,  that 
Protestant  clergymen  are  more  numerous  than  any  other  profes 
sion.  And  of  the  eminent  men  of  the  Christian  world,  a  far 
larger  portion  of  them  are  found  to  be  the  children  of  clergy 
men  than  of  any  other  professionals. 

The  peculiar  fitness  of  the  studies  of  the  Theologians,  as  dis 
cipline  and  preparation  for  Political  Philosophy,  is  further  proved 
by  the  fact  that  at  various  times  they  have  become  the  best  and 
foremost  political  statesmen  of  the  world.  Ximenes,  Woolsey, 
Richelieu,  Cranmer,  Talleyrand,  and  others  may  be  mentioned. 
And  then  also  the  fact,  that  the  statesmanship  of  Rome,  which 
is  conducted  entirely  by  clergymen,  is  acknowledged  to  be  the 
most  far-reaching  in  the  world.  Remember  also  those  old 
Puritan  statesmen  of  CromwelFs  day,  who  knew  their  Bibles 
and  catechisms  even  better  than  their  laws, — how  readily  they 
were  turned  into  generals  and  statesmen  whom  all  the  world 
wondered  at,  and  who  out-generaled  and  out-witted  even  the 
Romans  themselves. 

Furthermore,  both  Fourier's  and  Herbert  Spencer's  writings 
show  that  they  have  been  well  disciplined  with  Theology,  and 
particularly  with  its  relation  to  Metaphysics.  And  Fourier 
spent  the  last  hours  of  his  life  on  his  knees,  voluntarily  alone 


32  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  V. 

with  God.  And  even  Comte's  ideal  social  power,  is  only  a 
grand  paraphrase  of  the  church  as  a  free  spiritual  power,  in 
somewhat  that  general  way  that  we  may  for  instance  speak  of, 
— the  church  of  the  United  States.  But  the  fact  is,  that  the 
church,  or  some  outgrowth  from  it,  although  perhaps  not  always 
under  the  name  church,  has  generally  been  found  in  advance  of 
the  state,  even  in  mere  forms  of  government.  For  the  church  is 
typical  of  all  human  society,  and  produces  the  foremost  corpo 
rations.  Dr.  Craig  suggests  to  me  to  say,  that  Theology  includes 
the  study  of  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven's  aims  and  struggles,  to 
issue  finally  in  the  perfect  social  state." 

But  when  we  speak  in  favor  of  Theology  as  a  scientific  and 
theoretical  preparation  for  Social  Science,  we  must  not  by  any 
means  be  understood  as  if  saying,  that  statesmen  practically 
ought  to  be  selected  from  among  clergymen.  The  experience 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  culminating  in  the  Inquisition,  is  against  the 
selection  of  governors,  with  civil  or  coercive  powers,  from  among 
professional  Theologians.  The  government  of  the  church  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  was  almost  the  only  important  popular  form  in 
Europe ;  and  it  therefore  absorbed  much  of  the  then  existing 
turbulent  and  ambitious  educated  material,  which,  finding  itself 
shut  out  from  civil  power,  concentrated  in,  and  gave  vent  to 
itself  in  the  church. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  civil  affairs,  the  modern  change  of  form 
of  government,  from  hereditary  and  aristocratic,  to  popular,  does 
not  show  its  highest  uses  in  civil  affairs,  but  in  church  affairs. 
And  this  it  does  by  operating  as  an  extra  inducement  to  draw 
the  most  ambitious  and  turbulent  materials  of  society  away  from 
the  church  into  the  state.  Hence,  under  popular  civil  govern 
ments,  the  church  itself  is  the  greatest  beneficiary — the  party 
most  benefited.  And  hence  also,  the  church  of  modern  times 
is  not  so  likely  to  become  so  cruel  or  bigoted  in  its  coercions,  as 
was  the  old  church.  But  this  is  no  argument  for  the  selection 
of  statesmen  from  clergymen.  And  because  the  evil  would  be 
LESS  now  than  formerly,  is  not  any  argument  why  we  should 
resort  to  the  evil  at  all.  The  prevalence  of  fanaticism  and  of 
religious  bigotry,  in  all  pre-millennial  times,  is  an  unanswerable 
objection  against  any  return,  before  the  millennium,  to  such  old 
methods  of  selection ;  and  so  also  is  the  reflex  corruption  'thereby 


PREPARATORY   STUDIES.  33 

produced  in  churchmen  and  in  church.  And  the  modern  prin 
ciples  of  the  division  of  labor,  and  the  very  different  kind  of 
energies  required  in  statesmen,  from  what  are  required  in  clergy 
men,  are  both  unanswerable  arguments  against  returning  to  those 
old  methods. 

§  3.  Metaphysics. 

AVe  would  now  argue  for  the  predominance  which  must  be 
t-;iven  to  Metaphysics  over  some  other  studies,  as  preparations  for 
Social  Science.  This  is  proved  by  the  following  reasons,  which 
are  cumulative.  Metaphysics  forms  a  considerable  element  in 
two  other  of  the  principal  preparatory  studies,  namely,  Theology 
and  Moral  Philosophy.  It  is  the  science  of  the  most  important 
faculty  and  part,  of  the  individual  creatures  who  make  up 
human  society.  These  Individuals  themselves,  each  separately, 
are  types  of  society,  from  which  as  types  (as  we  shall  hereinafter 
see)  we  form  our  most  valuable  judgments  and  arguments  in 
social  actions, — the  human  Individual  being  one  fit  type  of 
human  society,  and  the  laws  of  the  Individuals  therefore,  being 
fit  types  of  the  laws  of  society.  And  it  is  the  science  for  the 
self-criticism  of  the  scientist  himself,  whereby  to  criticise  away 
his  own  personal  aberrations. 

Psychology  itself,  so  far  as  independent  of  supernatural  con 
siderations,  is  nothing  more  than  a  small  branch  of  Metaphysics. 

The  fault  of  the  old  theorists  was  not  that  they  reasoned  Meta 
physically;  but  that,  having  some  special  one-sided  doctrines  to 
establish,  or  particular  feelings  to  gratify,  they  perverted  Meta 
physics.  And  it  has  been  found  also  that  some  of  our  moderns 
who  use  statistics  and  figures,  can  make  perversions  equally  as 
great  as  the  old  metaphysicians  did,  and  as  difficult  to  over 
throw,  and  which  sometimes  indeed,  cannot  be  overthrown  at 
all,  only  by  resorting  to  the  metaphysical  laws  of  our  being, 
and  to  common  sense. 

The  attempt  to  ignore  Metaphysics  on  grounds  of  physical 
philosophy,  is  much  the  same  as  to  deny  sensation  to  an  animal, 
because  not  possessed  by  a  vegetable. 

Comte's  idea  is,  that  mental  science  can  only  be  pursued  by 
observing  the  operations  of  the  mind,  and  that,  the  moment  we 
stop  thinking,  to  observe  those  motions  of  the  mind,  the  mo 
tions  themselves  must  stop ;  and  then  there  would  be  nothing  to 


34  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  VI. 

observe.  (See  Introduction  to  Positive  Philosophy.)  But  this 
doctrine  entirely  mistakes  the  mind's  true  course  of  proceeding 
in  the  case.  The  truth  is,  that  the  science  of  Metaphysics  does 
not  proceed  essentially  or  chiefly  by  direct  observations  of  the 
actions  of  mind,  as  and  when  they  are  influenced  by  its  im 
mediate  causes  (external  or  internal) ;  but  it  proceeds  by  ob 
serving  the  MEMORY  of  those  states  of  mind  afterwards.  And 
therefore  it  can  be  just  as  correct  as  the  memory.  The  simple 
question  is,  as  to  the  reality  and  faithfulness  of  memory.  For, 
granting  this,  we  can  afterwards  write  down  the  actual  occur 
rences  of  our  minds ;  for  all  writing  is  just  exactly  noting  down 
the  facts  of  our  mental  processes,  and  if  we  will  be  faithful  and 
write  them  all  fairly,  we  then  have  a  statement  of  facts  as  to  the 
mind's  operation,  which  we  can  consider  and  reconsider,  ponder 
and  analyze,  to  our  hearts'  content,  the  same  and  as  fully  as  we 
could  do  with  any  record  of  any  other  natural  or  experimental 
phenomena. 

In  respect  to  self-consciousness,  individuals  are  types  of  so 
ciety.  A  society,  like  an  Individual,  cannot  understand  itself 
by  an  effort  of  direct  self-consciousness  of  its  own  characteris 
tics.  It  can  only  understand  itself  by  observing  its  history; 
having  previously  encouraged  the  faithful  narration  and  publi 
cation  of  that  history,  by  interested  and  morally  as  well  as 
mentally  competent  persons.  And  the  better  any  society  is, 
the  more  it  will  criticise  and  improve  its  own  characteristics,  by 
the  light  of  its  own  experience,  in  defiance  of  its  passions,  its 
prejudices,  and  its  theories. 

There  is  one  other  science  to  be  mentioned  here  as  an  im 
portant  preparation,  namely,  the  science  of  Medicine;  but  as 
this  is  a  somewhat  new  position,  and  as  it  is  desirable  to  avoid 
repetition,  the  evidences  of  this  should  be  postponed  to  the  head 
of  «  The  Individual,"  and  of  "Health"  and  "Life." 

CHAP.  VI.   PROMOTERS  AND  TEACHERS. 

§  1.  Not  the  Classes  generally  supposed. 

The  question  now  occurs,  whom  are  we  to  look  to  for  Social 
Science  ?  No  great  advance  can  be  made  in  this  science,  except 
in  an  entire  and  sympathetic  willingness  to  receive  light  from  all 
sources.  But  as  to  what  classes  of  persons  to  look  to  for  Social 


PROMOTERS  AND  TEACHERS.  35 

Science,  we  observe,  that  they  are  certainly  NOT  the  inferior 
classes  of  infidels.  Great  reasoning  powers,  great  culture,  may 
enable  a  few  of  them,  as  in  the  case  of  Comte,  to  rise  to  a  val 
uable  height  in  the  comprehension  of  all  those  parts  of  the 
subject  that  are  not  expressly  spiritual.  But  inferior  minds 
must  be  guided  by  sound  instincts,  rather  than  by  intellectual 
speculations. 

Furthermore,  we  are  not  to  look  to  the  REGULARS,  whether 
politicians  statesmen  or  lawyers.  For  these,  by  devoting  their 
minds  wholly  to  their  own  particular  branch  of  the  science,  are 
not  competent  to  take  a  liberal  or  unbiased  view  of  the  whole 
subject. 

Another  reason  is,  the  habit  of  studying  political  questions 
chiefly  for  immediate  action  and  application,  begets  the  habit  of 
endeavoring  to  found  and  build  merely  temporary  contrivances 
on  everlasting  foundations,  and  then  of  reasoning  backwards, 
and  from  the  permanency  of  the  foundations,  rashly  assuming 
the  permanency  of  the  superstructure.  Statesmen  and  lawyers, 
anxious  to  have  the  strongest  possible  arguments  for  present 
measures,  work  powerfully  to  argue  and  convince  Mankind  that 
their  measures  are  absolutely  required  by  the  eternal  nature  of 
things.  What  is  wanted  is, — that  such  certain  eternal  and  ever 
applicable  principles  should  be  discovered  and  elucidated,  as 
should  be  both  flexible  and  comprehensive  enough  to  apply  to 
all  temporary  and  varying  real  necessities, — without  at  all  im 
plying,  either  that  the  institutions  or  the  logical  arguments  for 
them,  were  absolute  or  permanent.  The  devotees  to  any  science 
or  business  are  the  great  obstructions  to  progress  in  it ;  except 
perhaps  they  be  the  GREAT  discoverers.  And  it  is  strictly  in 
accordance  with^  these  facts,  that  little  hope  of  governmental 
improvement  is  to  be  expected  from  professional  politicians. 

M.  Comte  preceded  us  in  a  similar  conclusion ;  yet  it  is  a  part 
of  his  theory,  that  government  is  finally  to  be  placed  at  the  dis 
posal  of  scientific  men,  although  not  of  the  savans  of  any  par 
ticular  science,  but  of  a  class  of  savans  not  yet  arisen,  and  whom 
he  does  not  think  it  possible  to  point  out  beforehand.  As  to  the 
world's  physical  scientists  generally,  notwithstanding  the  valu 
able  aid  their  previous  studies  have  given  them  for  fitness  to 
encounter  the  great  problems  of  social  life,  yet  they  are  gener- 


36  BK-  I-      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  VI. 

ally  so  absorbed  with  hobbies,  so  ambitious  of  scientific  fame, 
so  unmetaphysical  in  their  methods  of  thought,  and  often  so 
half-skeptical  religiously,  and  so  conceited  in  their  own  opinions 
of  the  true  principles  of  that  science  of  society  which  they  have 
not  yet  studied,  that  there  seems  but  little  hope  as  yet  of  their 
doing  much  for  it.  Perhaps  it  will  be  soon  introduced  into  the 
colleges  and  universities,  as  a  branch  of  the  regular  course. 
And  then  we  might  expect  it  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
pious  scientists.  But  what  is  usually  studied  as  Social  Sci 
ence  in  those  institutions,  is  little  more  than  enlarged  Political 
Economy. 

§  2.   The  Real  Promoters. 

As  yet,  those  who  have  done  most  to  aid  Social  Science,  are 
probably,  Socrates  (or  Plato),  Fourier,  Comte,  and  Herbert 
Spencer,  who  are  the  most  profound  scientific  generaiists  of  all 
time. 

A  more  likely  class  than  either  the  ordinary  statesmen  or  the 
ordinary  physicists,  to  look  to  for  Social  Science,  would  be  the 
true  scientific  Theologians,  if  they  had  the  time  to  spare  from 
their  other  avocations.  But  this  seems  seldom  to  happen  ;  since 
most  of  them  either  have  the  charge  and  the  daily  labor  of  large 
church  congregations,  or  else  of  educational  institutions.  These 
latter,  namely,  the  theological  head  officers  of  the  secular  institu 
tions,  may  contribute  much  towards  our  science,  when  there  arises 
a  sufficient  public  demand  to  turn  their  business  attention  to  it, 
and  when  more  leisure  is  afforded  them.  Theologians  are,  by 
their  training,  best  fitted  for  universal  or  general  study.  Wells, 
whose  occupation  is  the  examination  of  heads,  says,  "  As  a  class 
they  (the  Theologians)  have  the  best  heads  in  the  world." 
(Physiognomy,  p.  488.) 

Another  evidence  that  Theologians  are  to  be  looked  to  for 
Social  Science,  is  found  in  the  fact  of  the  success  of  their  com 
munities.  The  founders  of  the  successful  communities  have 
nearly  always  been  Theologians  originally,  even  if  uneducated 
ones,  or  if  they  had  afterwards  deserted  their  Theology.  Actual 
successes  of  this  kind  evidence  practical  knowledge  of  Social 
Science,  and  also  ability  in  new  developments. 

The  only  regular  students  of  Social  Science  of  moderate  cali 
ber,  who  have  yet  done  much  for  it,  are  the  communists.  These, 


PROMOTERS  AND  TEACHERS.  37 

by  evidencing  their  faith  in  their  own  theories,  by  lives  of  com 
munism  and  self-sacrifice,  present  new  elements,  namely,  profound 
sincerity  and  self-sacrifice,  powerfully  co-operating  in  their  study 
of  the  science. 

Here  also  should  be  added  all  those  classes  of  persons, 
who,  upon  principle,  like  the  primitive  Christians,  the  original 
Quakers,  and  some  more  modern  peace-men  and  innovators, 
personally  and  individually  disregard  tyrannical  laws,  whether 
of  government  or  of  fashion. 

Another  reason  why  Theologians,  religious  and  benevolent 
persons,  are  necessary  in  the  improvement  of  Social  Science,  is, 
that  they  alone  proclaim  to  any  rulers  (whether  kings  or  peoples) 
the  peculiar  portions  of  truth  that  they  respectively  need.  Other 
professions  will  flatter  their  kings,  if  in  a  monarchy;  or  will 
flatter  the  people,  if  in  a  democracy.  The  epithet  for  the  leaders 
and  politicians  of  the  old  Jewish  people  was,  "they  who  call  the 
people  blessed," — as  any  one  may  see  by  merely  referring  to  the 
marginal  renderings  in  our  usual  large  Bibles.  Thus,  in  Isaiah 
iii.  12  :  "  O  my  people,  they  which  lead  thee,"  (marginal  reading, 
"they  which  call  thee  blessed"),  "cause  thee  to  err,  and  destroy 
the  way  of  thy  paths."  Again,  Isaiah  ix.  16  :  "  For  the  leaders 
of  this  people,"  (marginal  reading,  "  they  that  call  them  blessed") 
"  cause  them  to  err ;  and  they  that  are  led  of  them  are  destroyed." 

We  must  not  omit  to  enumerate  the  brave  and  devoted  mis 
sionaries  scattered  over  heathen  countries,  and  various  explorers 
geographical  and  scientific,  who  are  sending  home  new  ideas 
and  new  truths  of  social  philosophy,  gathered  by  experience  and 
on  the  spot,  of  such  various  social  systems  as  .they  necessarily 
encounter  and  naturally  study  and  appreciate. 

There  is  also  another  class  who  are  doing  noble  but  sporadic 
work,  in  aid  of  our  science.  They  are  generally  retired  states 
men  or  professionals,  or  retired  merchants,  or  Christian  men 
of  considerable  means,  some  of  whom  are  to  be  found  almost 
everywhere.  They  turn  their  attention  generally,  each  to  some 
one  or  few  special  points  in  the  study  or  the  practice. 

Dr.  Craig  suggests  th'at  clergymen  and  physicians  COULD  be 
of  great  use  to  Social  Science  by  their  facilities  for  collecting 
statistics  of  such  a  private  and  moral  nature,  as  it  is  scarcely 
possible  could  be  derived  from  any  other  sources. 


38  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  VII. 

CHAP.  VII.      MEANS   AND   DATA. 

§  1.   Observation. 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  means  and  data  of  the  science 
of  society.  This  can  consist  only  in  a  very  small  degree  of  per 
sonal  observation,  and  only  in  the  persons  of  leading  statesmen, 
and  in  times  of  peculiar  contemporaneous  national  events.  And 
such  observation  will  be  far  less  applicable  to  the  government 
of  great  Nations,  than  to  the  government  of  small  Precincts. 
The  larger  and  more  populous  the  territory,  the  less  can  its 
affairs  be  observed  by  one  human  mind,  or  conducted  in  one  age 
of  life.  Social  observation  therefore  mainly  consists  of  history. 
The  great  want  here  is  for  brief  histories  which  shall  represent 
principles  rather  than  events.  Such  works  would  be  nearly  the 
same  thing  as  "  histories  of  civilization"  of  each  particular  coun 
try.  They  should  prove,,  as  to  the  case  of  each  Nation  for  itself, 
the  general  rules  and  general  consequences  of  the  various  prin 
ciples  of  national  action.  This  is  what  Paley's  theory  proposes, 
but  for  a  diiferent  purpose,  namely,  for  his  proposed  basis  of 
morals. 

§  2.  Experiment. 

If  Social  Science  is  ever  to  become  a  real  science,  experiments 
must  be  encouraged  in  it,  as  really  as  in  all  the  other  sciences. 
But  almost  the  only  experiments  of  any  thoroughness  we  have 
of  late  years  are  communistic,  except  a  few  experiments  on  some 
peculiar  methods  of  settling  unoccupied  lands.  Our  Precinct 
system  affords  much  the  best  basis  for  experiment.  This  system 
consists  in  forming  very  small  Precincts  of,  and  in,  some  one 
great  Nation,  and  allowing  within  each  Precinct,  the  utmost  in 
ternal  liberty  and  self-government,  consistent  with  the  general 
prosperity  of  the  whole ;  in  fact,  an  establishment  of  a  United 
States  of  Precincts,  on  the  general  principle  of  "  mind  its  own 
business"  so  long  as  it  allows  every  person  to  leave  a  Precinct, 
if  he  does  not  like  it,  and  does  not  interfere  with  others7  equal 
liberty,  nor  with  the  general  welfare. 

This  system,  indeed  is  almost  the  only  hopeful  or  desirable 
basis.  Because,  if  large  national  experiments  preceded  the  pre 
cinct  experiments,  vast  ruin  might  follow  in  case  of  non-success. 
And  the  consequences  also  might  be  not  rapid  enough  to  teach 
the  living  generation  who  actually  try  the  experiment.  Further- 


MEANS   AND    DATA.  39 

more,  this  Precinct  system  is  one  which  in  itself  would  be  the 
germ  of  all  subsequent  continuous  peaceful  and  agreeable  ex 
periments. 

The  next  best  kind  of  experiments  are  well  organized  volun 
tary  corporations,  as  for  instance,  the  moral  communes.  These 
ought  to  be  encouraged  by  law,  and  be  by  every  other  reason 
able  facility  allowed  to  organize  into  townships  or  counties, 
or  whatever  other  local  government,  their  extent  or  prosperity 
might  enable  them  to  attain ;  always  holding  the  commune  or 
corporation  responsible  for  the  reasonable  care  of  its  women  and 
children.  Ntf  communes  have  succeeded  unless  they  have  been 
governed  by  good  and  wise  men.  They  ought  to  be  protected 
therefore,  because  according  to  our  theory,  government  ought  to 
be  in  the  hands  of  wise  men,  namely,  those  who  possess  the 
transcendental  elements  most  fully.  Furthermore,  all  com 
munes,  even  bad  ones,  are  types  and  miniatures  of  society  at 
large !  and  the  evil  ones  teach  us  lessons  at  their  own  expense, 
and  by  their  own  free  choice.  Only  keep  them  apart,  so  as  not 
to  contaminate  the  rest  of  society. 

In  all  .sciences  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  conditions.  And 
one  of  the  conditions  of  any  desirable  social  experiment  for  a 
free  people  is,  of  course,  that  the  persons  who  enter  upon  it 
should  do  so  VOLUNTARILY,  and  from  real  conviction.  Other 
wise  it  is  no  experiment  of  the  natural  workings  of  free  or 
desirable  society;  but  it  is  a  mere  experiment  in  tyranny,  in 
corruption,  or  in  punishment.  Hence  arises  the  great  necessity 
for  allowing  to  all  social  experimenters,  the  fullest  possible  lib 
erty  consistent  with  the  equal  rights  of  others,  provided  they 
will  keep  themselves  from  intruding  their  objectionable  features 
before  and  upon  the  rest  of  society. 

In  regard  to  the  use  of  experiments,  we  may  observe  that 
they  give,  not  merely  a  balance  of  contradictory  arguments, 
when  some  great  and  good  principle  or  plan  is  found  to  succeed 
in  some  one  or  more  cases,  but  not  at  all  in  others.  On  the 
contrary,  wherever  a  great  and  good  principle  or  plan  has  tri 
umphantly  succeeded,  even  only  once,  it  is  a  sure  proof  that  the 
principle  or  plan  is  PRACTICABLE  FOR  HUMAN  NATURE.  And 
thus,  every  new  attainment  is  the  advancement  to  a  new  posi 
tion  by  the  vanguard  of  improvement.  In  other  words,  a  prin- 


40  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      I.  VII. 

ciple  established  for  one,  is  established  for  all.  Mankind,  some 
of  them  at  least,  are  improving,  and  are  gradually  becoming  fit 
for  better  and  better  social  conditions.  And  the  exact  amount 
of  this  fitness,  is  entirely  too  complicated  an  answer,  to  be  ob 
tained  by  any  theoretical  or  a  priori  argument.  The  net  total 
resultant  of  the  many  conflicting  and  variable  forces,  acting 
from  time  to  time,  can  only  be  ascertained  by  trial  itself. 

And  what,  after  all,  is  the  history  of  any  nation,  and  of  its 
laws  and  wars  and  government  ?  what,  but  a  series  of  experi 
ments,  now  with  one  object  and  now  with  another,  yet  having 
scarcely  any  more  of  the  scientific  conditions  of  a  USEFUL 
experiment,  than  an  eclipse  or  an  earthquake. 

This  is  the  era  of  political  experiment  all  over  the  world, 
and  this  fact  probably  shows  one  of  the  final  causes  for  the  divi 
sion  of  Mankind  into  nations  or  races,  namely,  the  better  to  com 
pel  them  to  try  different  series  of  disconnected  experiments,  as 
to  the  structure  and  laws  of  society :  then,  that  process  having 
continued  for  ages,  the  present  stage  of  civilization  and  universal 
exchange,  serves  to  point  to  a  time  having  arrived  when  each 
Precinct  and  Nation  is  to  study  all  the  others,  and  to  try  what 
ever  it  finds  in  any  of  them  that  would  appear  beneficial  to  it. 
This,  then,  is  the  era  of  universal  experiment  in  social  and 
political,  as  well  as  in  the  other  sciences,  when  each  Nation  is 
trying  experiments  from  suggestions  derived  from  any  or  all 
of  the  others. 

§  3.  Modification  of  Expediency  Doctrine. 

Another  one  of  the  data  for  social  science  is,  a  modification 
of  the  doctrine  of  expediency ;  namely,  a  reasoning  from  general 
consequences  and  general  rules,  in  such  a  way  that  the  general 
consequences  are  used  to  obtain  general  moral  rules,  not  inde 
pendent  of,  but  only  in  connection  with,  the  moral  instincts. 
Such  general  rules  are  substantially  the  same  as  Dr.  Paley's 
Principles  of  Moral  Philosophy  would  become,  by  taking  the 
moral  instincts  into  its  connection  formally,  as  indeed  he  often 
does  materially  essentially  and  instinctively,  in  the  course  of  his 
work.  No  doctrine  of  expediency  can  be  received,  altogether 
regardless  of  the  moral  instincts,  nor  can  these  be  taken  without 
the  other ;  but  right  and  expediency  always  go  together,  with 
the  privilege,  amid  contending  principles,  to  prefer  that  which 


MEANS   AXD    DATA.  4} 

happens  to  be  the  clearest  in  any  given  case;  and  never  swerv 
ing  from  the  great  foundations  of  morality,  namely,  the  sanction 
of  God  and  the  equality  of  the  rights  of  men  under  the  same 
circumstances. 

§  4.  Return  to  First  Principles. 

Allowing  now,  that  reasoning  from  cause  and  effect,  and  from 
general  theories  of  society,  based  upon  cause  and  effect  alone; 
or  starting  with  theories  that  can  just  as  well  be  turned  into 
exactly  opposite  directions  and  developments, — that  such  reason 
ing  is  altogether  insufficient  of  itself  to  invent  or  discover  the 
true  social  system  or  true  Social  Science : — nevertheless,  we  must 
always  be  ready  in  our  reasonings,  to  return  to  the  first  principles 
of  things ;  and  not  wander  far  off  into  answers  to  arguments, 
and  then  replies  to  answers,  and  then  objections  to  replies,  and 
the  removal  of  the  objections,  and  then  answers  to  those  re 
movals,  and  so  on  as  may  be  done  endlessly. 

There  is  a  class  of  Social  Scientists,  (with  whom,  it  is  to  be 
regretted,  Spencer  has  almost  enrqlled  himself),  who  argue  that 
government  ought  not  to  do  nor  to  attempt  to  do,  scarcely  any 
thing  except  to  keep  the  peace  among  its  own  citizens,  and 
organize  for  fighting  with  the  citizens  of  other  governments. 
They  argue  for  letting  natural  laws  take  their  course,  as  fully  in 
all  sanitary  matters,  as  in  sumptuary  ones ;  and  they  ask  us  to 
let  death  multiply  until  Individuals  will  of  their  Own  accord 
provide  for  the  health  of  a  city ;  they  ask  this,  even  with  the 
same  pertinacity  that  they  ask  to  let  men  eat  and  dress  extrava^ 
gantly  until  checked  by  their  reaching  the  bottom  of  their 
pockets.  This  leads  to  the  necessity  of  showing,  that  we  must 
resort  to  first  principles  in  order  to  answer  these  arguments. 

Let  us  consider  some  instances  of  the  kind  of  proof  required ; 
— discretionary  power  is  given  to  trustees,  agents,  representa 
tives,  judges,  governors,  in  order  that  the  discretion  may  be  used 
for  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice,  as  against  the  impossibility 
of  government  making  exact  and  perfect  rules  beforehand.  But 
when  those  officers  use  a  "  hook  or  crook7'  of  exact  rule,  to  author 
ize  a  violation  of  truth  or  j  ustice,  and  would  plead  their  discretion 
ary  powers,  they  violate  t\\e  first  principles  in  the  case,  and  must  re 
turn  to  first  principles,  in  order  to  see  the  error  of  their  argument. 

Again,  it  is  admitted,  private  charity  is  better  than  public; 


42  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  VII. 

the  first  principle  being,  that  private  character  is  able  to  be 
investigated  more  truly  by  the  benevolent  and  on  the  voluntary 
principle,  than  by  government.  But,  when  we  find  Individuals 
failing  to  do  a  necessary  work,  when  we  find  whole  tribes  and 
districts  and  scattered  millions,  famishing,  and  no  sufficient 
private  aid  coming,  the  public  must  come  to  the  rescue,  and 
justify  itself  by  recurring  to  first  principles. 

Again,  when  the  elective  franchise  is  given,  and  decisions  are 
made  according  to  majority,  all  is  intended  for  the  reason  or  first 
principle,  that  it  is  supposed  that  the  possession  of  that  franchise 
by  all,  is  a  needed  means  for  the  protection  of  their  own  rights. 
But  when  they  would  use  the  idea  of  the  majority,  to  take  away 
the  rights  of  others,  their  arguments  should  return  to  first  prin 
ciples.  And  the  mere  will  of  a  majority,  can  find  no  arguments 
to  defend  it,  in  trampling  on  the  rights  of  a  minority. 

Now,  when  some  would  allege,  very  restricted  powers  to  gov 
ernment, — that  it  must  in  fact  do  almost  nothing,  but  (that  which, 
by  the  way,  it  cannot  do  at  all,  namely)  protect  life  and  prop 
erty,  they  are  fond  of  assuming  or  trying  to  prove,  that  govern 
ment  was  not  instituted  for  any  of  those  other  purposes.  They 
think  they  then  recur  to  the  first  principles  of  the  thing.  But ; 
— Do  they  ?  Or  shall  we  ask,  what  was  man  himself  instituted 
for  ?  Was  man  made  for  Sunday,  or  Sunday  made  for  man  ? 
Was  man  made  for  law,  or  law  made  for  man  ?  If  this,  then, 
is  the  first  principle  of  the  thing,  the  do-nothing  governmental- 
ists  are  in  the  wrong  theory ; — who  would  let  one  set  of  un 
thrifty  idle  poor  starve,  in  order  that  others  might  learn  more 
foresight ;  or  one  set  of  strong  passioned  men  and  girls  rot,  that 
others  might  learn  to  avoid  the  danger,  &c.,  &c.  Some  Socio 
logical  arguments  favoring  the  absurdest  conclusions,  can  be 
fully  -and  satisfactorily  answered  in  this  manner,  which  might 
take  whole  volumes  to  refute  in  any  other  manner ;  so  compli 
cated  and  abstruse  is  the  whole  science,  and  so  mixed  up  with 
local  prejudices  and  visionary  theories. 

The  fact  is,  that  for  practical  application,  all  abstract  princi 
ples  must  undergo  a  degree  of  concrete  integration ;  and  the 
definite  quantities  and  "  constants"  which  had  been  dropped  in 
differentiation,  must  be  restored.  This  is  readily  accomplished 
by  a  resort  to  the  first  principles  of  things. 


MEANS   AND    DATA.  43 

§  5.  Analogies  of  Natural  Laws. 

Then  we  have  the  analogies  of  natural  laws,  beginning  with 
the  laws  of  inorganic  matter,  and  ascending  to  those  of  the 
vegetable,  and  finally  of  the  animal.  And  as  we  rise  in  the 
scale  of  existence,  always  of  course,  pay  more  and  more  respect 
to  the  analogies  which  gradually  approach  the  human  being 
himself.  In  the  application  of  this  principle,  Comte  made 
great  advances  beyond  Fourier,  and  Spencer,  still  greater  ad 
vances  beyond  Comte,  and  Carey  also  has  made  some  use  of 
natural  laws  for  analogies,  but  only  or  chiefly  of  those  drawn 
from  the  inanimate  world.  It  is  the  introduction  of  these  kinds 
of  analogies  into  Social  Science,  that  seems  to  be  its  strongest 
attraction  to  the  modern  physicists.  And  by  their  influence, 
analogies  which  formerly  were  considered  to  be  nothing  more 
than  very  pretty  figures  of  speech,  are  now  admitted  to  be 
fundamental  laws  of  the  Science. 

The  great  Social  Scientists,  such  as  Fourier,  Comte,  Spencer, 
avow  a  causal  connection  between  the  lower  order  of  creatures, 
organic  and  inorganic,  and  the  nature  of  man,  individual  and 
social.  Even  Plato,  Swedenborg  and  others,  who  do  not  appear 
to  accept  the  doctrine  of  a  causal  connection,  make  free  use  of 

the  resemblances. 

§  6.   The  Tribe-Principle. 

There  is  another  principle  upon  which  we  build  much  of  our 
Social  Science.  It  is  the  theory  of  the  tribe ;  namely,  the  theory 
that  the  tribe-element  of  primitive  stages  of  mankind,  disap 
pears  as  to  its  form,  in  modern  or  developed  society ;  but  yet,  as 
to  its  essence,  reappears  therein  under  several  different  forms. 
This  we  call  the  tribe-principle.  The  developments  of  this, 
will  be  found  frequently  recurring  in  the  progress  of  this  work. 
We  have  not  met  with  any  work  on  Social  Science,  hitherto, 
which  makes  any  practical  application  of  the  tribe-element,  to 
modern  society. 

§  7.   The  Type-Theory. 

We  have  the  type-theory  ;  according  to  which,  the  Individual 
human  being  is  regarded  as  a  type  of  Family,  and  of  all  the 
other  personal  units  more  complicated.  And  then,  the  Family  is 
likewise  regarded  as  the  type  of  the  Precinct,  and  of  all  the 
other  Units  more  general  than  it ;  and  so  on,  up  to  the  Nation, 


44  BK-  L      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  VII. 

and  even  to  Mankind.  This  is  a  very  different  idea,  from  merely 
using  the  Individual  man  or  any  other  animal,  as  the  type  of 
society  at  large,  as  has  been  done  by  Plato,  Hobbes,  Spencer,  and 
many  others.  Besides  the  increased  complexity  and  development 
of  our  use  of  the  thought,  ours  has  a  less  outward,  but  a  more 
/noral,  origin  and  nature.  See  that  other  view  pretty  fully 
treated  in  the  Westminster  Review,  January,  1860,  in  Spencer's 
article,  "  The  Social  Organism."  Extracts  therefrom  will  be 
found  under  the  head  of  Individual. 

The  substance  of  our  theory,  as  has  been  mentioned  already, 
is  the  typical  ness  of  each  and  all  the  different  personal  elements, 
or  units  of  society :  and  this  in  such  a  sense,  that  each  one  is 
typical  of  all  those  that  are  more  general  than  itself. 

The  way  whereby  we  came  to  alight  upon  this  theory,  was 
this. — In  the  course  of  the  study  of  Social  Science,  it  soon  be 
came  apparent,  that,  amid  such  a  conflict  of  different  theories 
and  contending  suggestions,  it  would  be  simply  impossible  to 
weigh  and  consider  them  all  fully  and  in  detail ;  and  that 
consequently,  the  disputes  in  Social  Science  could  never  be 
settled  in  that  way.  The  question  then  almost  became,  either 
to  give  up  the  science  in  despair,  or  try  to  find  some  more  prac 
ticable  method  of  proof.  At  last  it  appeared,  that  in  nature 
there  are  certain  objects  and  circumstances,  that,  when  used  by 
a  proper  instinct  and  not  superficially,  at  once  and  by  analogy 
show  forth  results  and  consequences,  with  more  certainty  and 
truth  than  the  deepest  or  most  complicated  reasonings. 

Tht  case  is,  as  Howson  says,  "  When  an  important  change  is 
at  hand,  God  usually  causes  a  silent  preparation  in  the  minds 
of  men ;  and  some  great  fact  occurs,  which  may  be  taken  as  a 
type  and  symbol  of  the  whole  movement." 

For  the  proof  of  our  theory  of  types,  we  appeal,  partly  to 
the  existence  of  typical  forms  in  general,  and  to  fundamental 
analogies  as  existing  in  common  sense,  and  as  the  data  and  basis 
of  the  judgments  of  common  sense. 

It  is  a  wonderful  fact,  that  we  often  find  in  common  life,  and 
even  with  inexperienced  persons,  a  degree  of  common  sense  that 
is  truly  surprising.  And  among  the  uneducated  classes  gener 
ally,  there  seems  to  prevail  more  wisdom  about  many  matters, 
than  can  be  found  among  those  given  to  the  deepest  researches 
of  reasoning. 


MEANS   AND    DATA.  45 

One  of  the  best,  and  probably  one  of  the  first  cases,  of  the 
analogy  of  the  individual  with  human  society,  is  given  by  St. 
Paul,  (1  Gor.  xii.),  and  applied  to  the  church.  But  evidently, 
the  principle  is  applicable  to  every  form  of  human  society,  from 
the  Family  upward. — "  For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many 
members,  and  all  the  members  of  that  one  body,  being  many, 
are  one  body:  so  also  is  Christ.  .  .  .  For  the  body  is  not  one 
member,  but  many.  If  the  foot  shall  say,  Because  I  am  not 
the  hand,  I  am  not  of  the  body;  is  it  therefore  not  of  the 
body?  ...  If  the  whole  body  were  an  eye,  where  were  the 
hearing  ?  .  .  .  But  now  hath  God  set  the  members,  every  one 
of  them,  in  the  body,  as  it  hath  pleased  him.  And  if  they 
were  all  one  member,  where  were  the  body  ?  .  .  .  And  the  eye 
cannot  say  unto  the  hand,  I  have  no  need  of  thee ;  nor  again, 
the  head  to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need  of  you.  .  .  .  And  those 
members  of  the  body,  which  we  think  to  be  less  honorable,  upon 
these  we  bestow  more  abundant  honor.  .  .  .  For  our  comely  parts 
have  no  need ;  but  God  hath  tempered  the  body  together,  having 
given  more  abundant  honor  to  that  part  which  lacked ;  that  there 
should  be  no  schism  in  the  body,  but  that  the  members  should 
have  the  same  care  one  for  another.  And  whether  one  member 
suffer,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it ;  or  one  member  be  hon 
ored,  all  the  members  rejoice  with  it." 

Fundamental  analogies  may  be  further  perceived  among  ab 
stract  subjects  and  questions.  Consider  now,  such  questions  as 
the  right  and  principle  of  civil  government  at  all;  or  the  true 
principles  of  church  organizations,  or  the  relation  of  church  to 
state.  The  discussions  on  ordinary  principles  seem  endless. 
But,  by  fixing  our  minds  on  some  of  the  simple  but  essential 
elements  of  society, — say,  the  Individual,  or  the  Family,  or 
even  on  some  one  locality  or  Precinct, — we  obtain  a  type  or 
basis  for  a  class  of  analogies  which  are  not  only  suggestive,  but 
to  a  certain  extent  also,  logically  conclusive.  Further  illustra 
tions  will  be  found  at  the  commencement  of  the  part  on  the 
"Individual"  and  especially  at  the  commencement  of  the  part 
on  the  "Family"  And  the  chief  type  and  illustration  is  the 
Family;  even  as  Comte  says,  that  it  is  both  the  unit  and  the  type 
of  society  at  large. 

The  doctrine  of  fundamental  analogies,  harmonizes  somewhat 


46  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  VII. 

with  the  old  Platonic  thought  of  the  real  existence  of  general 
ideas  and  general  forms.  And  it  would  seem  that  all  creation 
is  but  an  evolution  from,  and  a  development  of,  these  general 
forms.  Yet  still  our  idea  is  not  so  much  that,  as  this  other 
thought,  that  all  life  repeats  itself  more  or  less,  and  produces 
microcosms ;  that  everything  re-types  itself,  and  that  some  of 
these  fruits  are  so  closely  and  truly  microcosms,  that  they  may 
safely  be  taken  as  typical  forms. 

Swedenborg  also  agrees,  that  by  "  correspondences"  the  ani 
mals  have  their  instinctive  knowledge,  and  that  man  is  like 
them  therein, — (Heaven  and  Hell;  108  and  110), — that  uses  are 
the  same  in  all  worlds,  but  the  same  use  takes  different  forms  in 
different  worlds ;  and  that  the  correspondence  in  forms,  results 
from  the  sameness  of  use.  (H.  and  H. ;  112.) 

When  the  greatest  philosophers  and  anatomists  of  the  world, 
were  vainly  endeavoring  to  reason  out  a  great  archetype,  or  gen 
eral  outline-skeleton  for  all  animal  life,  the  poet  Goethe  perceives, 
that  a  leaf  is  the  archetype  wanted.  Prof.  Owen  has  enlarged 
this  idea  into  a  system  of  creation  according  to  an  "  ideal  typical 
vertebra,"  as  in  the  Divine  mind.  But  Owen,  having  confused 
this  capital  thought  with  a  very  different  one,  namely,  the  purely 
mechanical  "  old  fogy"  undevelopment-idea  of  creation,  laid  him 
self  open  to  cavil. 

The  basis  of  these  fundamental  analogies,  seems  to  rest  in  the 
very  ultimate  beginning  principles  of  inanimate  matter.  In  gen 
eral,  perhaps  the  theory  is  admissible  that  many  of  the  primal 
conglomerations  or  organizations  in  nature,  are  in  the  forms  of 
their  totalities  or  ultimates ;  crystals,  in  the  form  of  their  totality, 
and  the  primal  parts  of  seeds  and  germs,  in  the  form  of  their 
completed  wholes,  and  the  parts  of  the  brain  in  the  form  of  the 
whole.  And  even  all  motion  might  be  the  result  of  the  original 
rotary  motion,  supposed  to  have  existed  in  the  beginning  of 
creation.  Everywhere,  from  highest  to  lowest,  in  the  move 
ments  of  being — nebula,  suns,  planets,*  electricity,  stomach, 
blood — EVERYWHERE  we  find  the  great  element  of  circuitous 
motion.  However,  it  is  beyond  our  depth,  to  give  "  positive" 
knowledge  of  the  foundations  of  fundamental  analogies. 

§  8.  Ideals. 

(a)  Historical  Ideals.     Imaginary  and  ideal  original  states  of 


MEANS   AND   DATA.  47 

society,  are  experiments  of  some  kind,  on  our  own  minds,  and 
are  efforts  to  reach  the  great  archetypes  within  our  own  minds, 
are  latent  activities  on  the  basis  of  an  inward  type  theory;  so 
that,  among  the  data  for  Social  Science,  and  among  the  scientific 
means  of  improving  it,  may  be  mentioned  this  inevitable  tend 
ency  of  the  human  mind,  to  imagine  peculiar  states  of  society 
in  its  most  simplified  forms : — Thus,  the  church-hypothesis,  of 
one  original  pair  for  all  Mankind,  and  they  created  in  a  state  of 
moral  and  intellectual  perfection : — Also,  the  opposite  hypothesis, 
that  Mankind  were  originally  a  set  of  barbarians,  but  little  if 
any,  superior  to  the  unreasoning  animals.  Each  of  these  oppo 
site  hypotheses  answers  to  explain  different  phenomena  of  society. 
The  church-hypothesis  explains  the  laws  of  the  moral  nature  of 
individual  man ;  whilst  the  barbarian  hypothesis  serves  to  explain 
the  scientific,  social,  and  governmental  progress  of  Mankind  as  a 
race  or  as  a  whole. 

Then,  again,  imaginary  conditions  of  society,  and  imaginary 
positions  of  Individuals  may  be  conceived ;  and  these  may  serve 
to  show  the  superior  worth  of  man  and  life,  above  all  fashions 
and  property  and  earthly  distinctions.  They  also  help  us  to 
form  a  judgment  as  to  what  are  the  strongest  passions  of  human 
nature.  The  principle  is  just  like  the  great  advice,  to  do  unto 
others  as  we  would  that  they  should  do  unto  us :  it  is  an  experi 
ment  upon  our  own  moral  consciousness. 

(6)  Prospective  Ideals.  This  sort  of  reasoning  is  the  founda 
tion  of  ideals-  for  the  future  of  human  society;  and  thus,  of 
hopes  for  society,  and  thus  becomes  a  guide  of  struggles  for  the 
improvement  of  Mankind.  But  imaginary  states  are,  in  the 
main,  necessary  to  the  pursuit  of  any  study,  in  a  truly  analytical 
method;  for  the  subsequent  re-integration  that  is  necessary  to 
form  science,  cannot  follow  without  ideals  as  to  mental  aim. 

Nor  is  our  ideal  to  be  supposed  to  be  a  reach  at  absolute  per 
fection.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  an  ideal  modified  so  as  to  come 
within  the  writer's  ideas  of  present  human  possibilities.  And 
it  is  by  no  means  supposed  to  be  the  end  of  all  progress  or  of  all 
ideals,  on  this  subject.  As  for  its  scientific  value  as  an  aid  to 
study,  we  hope  to  place  our  ideal  at  least  in  the  same  category 
as  Plato's  Republic,  More's  Utopia,  Fourier's  Association,  and 
Ball  oil's  True  System  of  Human  Society ;  and  that  is  not  saying 


48  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  VIII. 

very  much  for  either  of  them.  Its  practicability  is  altogether 
another  question,  and  is  reserved  for  its  proper  place  in  a  sepa 
rate  "book."  Our  ideal  is  such  a  universal  cooperation  as 
would  have  to  be  called  Limited  or  Christian  communism.  By 
communism,  we  mean,  not  freedom  of  sex,  but  cooperation  and 
mutuality, — in  religion,  in  self-government  and  in  industry, — 
in  incomes,  and  labors,  and  general  life, — in  all  things  moral 
and  lawful, — and  by  doing  to  others  perfectly  as  we  would  be 
done  by, — as  only  can  be  done  in  "  association"-life. 

Judaism  owes  much  of  its  power  to  its  having  its  ideal  king 
dom  of  the  Messiah,  as  its  central  point,  which  it  was  its  duty 
constantly  to  seek;  and  which  it  was  certain  it  would  finally 
attain. 

§  9.  Efficacy  for  solution  of  phenomena. 

But  the  greatest  and  best  proof  of  the  excellence  of  our  theory, 
is  of  the  same  kind  as  presents  itself  in  every  science,  namely, 
the  success  of  the  applications  of  our  individual  theories,  to  the 
solution  of  all  the  facts,  and  to  the  general  classification  of  the 
subject  as  a  whole.  This  argument  is  of  such  a  nature,  that  we 
hope  it  will  gradually  increase,  even  to  the  end  of  the  last  divi 
sion,  where  it  comes  to  be  applied  to  the  difficult  problems 
and  relations  of  civil  government,  of  religion,  communism,  and 
human  life.  But  yet,  so  thoroughly  is  the  nature  of  this  sort 
of  argument  understood  in  the  physical  sciences,  that  we  scarcely 
need  mention  it  again. 

CHAP.  VIII.      THE   METHOD. — ANALYTICAL. 

In  a  new  and  undeveloped  science,  some  greater  attention  to 
preliminaries  of  method  and  arrangement,  may  be  excused,  and 
is  even  demanded,  than  in  the  case  of  the  more  developed  and 
better  ascertained  sciences. 

There  are  two  main  methods  of  pursuing  any  science, — the 
analytical  and  the  synthetical.  The  synthetical  consists  in  lay 
ing  down  the  subject  in  a  regular  and  connected  order,  so  that 
what  follows  is  generally  based  upon  what  precedes,  simply  as 
possible,  and  sustained  by  demonstrations  of  the  truth  of  what 
has  been  said.  The  analytical,  is  the  handling  of  the  constituent 
parts  of  a  subject  in  the  various  ways  POSSIBLE.  It  consists, 
first,  in  taking  the  subject  all  apart  and  considering  each  part 


THE   METHOD.— ANALYTICAL.  49 

separately,  then  combining  those  parts  together  repeatedly,  with 
a  view  to  forming  some  synthetical  arrangement.  But,  as  first 
attempts  are  generally  unsuccessful,  the  first  forms  of  synthesis 
will  be  unsatisfactory.  Then  the  whole  subject  must  necessarily 
be  re-analyzed.  And  this  process  continues  to  be  repeated,  with 
an  increase  of  knowledge  and  experience  gained  by  previous 
operations ;  and  all  this,  in  regard  both  to  ideas  and  to  general 
classifications.  And,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  are  here  using  the 
words  analytical  and  synthetical,  they  are  both  included  in  the 
term  inductive,  as  distinguished  from  deductive.  And  the  term 
deductive  applies  to  the  synthetical,  chiefly  as  to  the  deduction 
of  the  classifications.  We  deduce  mostly  forms,  not  substance 
nor  inferences,  by  this  method  of  thinking. 

Another  feature  of  the  analytical  method  is,  that  we  pursue 
our  studies  in  regard  to  all  the  different  parts  of  the  subject  at 
the  same  time.  In  fact  we  do  this  in  the  same  manner,  to  some 
extent,  as  if  they  were  entirely  different  subjects,  but  constantly 
are  on  the  watch  for  every  suggestion  that  may  arise,  of  com 
parisons  with  or  relations  to,  any  of  the  other  parts  of  the  sub 
ject  as  a  whole.  We  seek  ideas  within  our  own  minds,  half 
ramblingly  it  may  be,  just  as  a  physicist  wanders  over  the.  earth 
for  glacier-stones,  fish-bones,  and  stone  hatchets.  And  this  is 
exactly  the  point  of  the  process  where  new  ideas  arise.  -:" ,, 

Another  point  of  contrast  between  the  two  methods  is,  that 
the  synthetical  usually  aims  to  be  argumentative,  in  such  a  way 
that  argumentative  conclusions  are  constantly  intended  and 
looked  for,  in  such  works  as  admit  of  argument ;  so  that  they 
are  valuable  chiefly  in  proportion  to  the  soundness  and  variety 
of  the  arguments  adduced.  But  the  analytical  process  is  gener 
ally  corrupted,  at  least  at  first,  in  proportion  as  it  has  in  mind 
any  particular  theory  or  object  to  prove.  So  that,  while  synthe 
sis  aims  to  prove  this  or  that  particular  truth  already  believed 
in,  analysis  hunts  and  seeks  for  any  truths  it  can  find  that  ap 
propriately  relate  to  the  subject. 

One  word  as  to  the  manner  in  which  this  work  has  been 
wrought  out:' — The  manner  has  been  purely  analytical.  After 
storing  the  mind  with  much  that  others  had  written ;  and  writing 
short  notes  or  essays  on  various  points  as  they  occurred, — writing 
perchance  on  the  same  day,  short  essays  or  notes  on  parts  of  the 

4 


50  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  IX. 

subject  the  most  distant  or  the  most  unlike :  we  found  that  the 
facts  or  doctrines  thus  having  been  cut  up  and  analyzed,  sug 
gested  other  points  or  positions  or  questions,  which  all  had  to  be 
noted  down  immediately,  to  be  afterwards  further  examined. 
And  subsequently,  all  these  suggestions  had  to  be  arranged  and 
compared  and  collated  together.  This  part  of  the  process  was 
synthetical,  and  made  further  suggestions,  whereby  the  work  be 
came  what  it  is.  And  all  these  various  changes  took  place,  as 
well  in  regard  to  the  methods  forms  and  classifications  of  the 
ideas,  as  in  regard  to  the  ideas  themselves. 

CHAP.  IX.      THE   CLASSIFICATIONS. 

§  1.   The  Classifications  in  general. 

One  objection  to  most  Social  Sciences  is,  that  their  writers, 
each  has  his  own  peculiar  pet  scheme  or  theory,  and  frames 
his  whole  work  so  as  to  be  a  special  pleading  in  favor  of  some 
such  theory.  Now,  to  have  a  theory  is  no  objection;  but  to 
twist  the  classification  to  suit  it, — to  have  only  ONE  theory,  and 
to  stake  the  treatment  of  a  whole  philosophical  work,  to  favor 
such  a  one  theory,  is  a  thing  not  done  in  other  sciences  claiming 
to  be  inductive  or  philosophical. 

The  first  great  desideratum  in  Social  Science,  would  be  a  work 
which  would  give  such  a  scientific  and  truthful  general  outline 
of  the  subject,  as  could  be  easily  used  in  any  of  the  diiferent 
theories  on  the  same  subject.  Thus  it  would  be  a  real  analysis 
of  the  subject  itself,  objectively,  as  to  its  generally  ascertained 
facts  and  principles.  The  originator  of  such  a  classification, 
containing  at  least  a  compend  of  the  principal  ideas  on  the  sub 
ject,  would  be  a  lasting  friend  to  posterity;  even  should  it  not 
add  any  single  new  idea  to  our  stock  of  knowledge  about  it. 
For  classification  is  the  foundation  and  essential  of  all  the  sci 
ences. 

Now,  it  seems  that  the  principal  merits  of  a  scientific  classi 
fication  of  any  book,  besides  those  already  mentioned,  are  that 
it  be  such  as  to  avoid  repetitions  as  much  as  possible ;  that  it 
arrange  the  different  parts  in  such  an  order  of  succession,  that 
what  precedes  will  facilitate  the  understanding  of  what  follows : 
and  that  that  which  precedes,  will  also  serve  as  argumentative 
premises,  for  reasonable  conclusions  in  the  parts  that  follow. 


CLASSIFICATIONS   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE.  51 

This  latter  attainment,  however,  is  rarely  possible,  consistently 
with  the  other  two,  and  in  an  analytical  work  of  this  kind,  can 
hardly  be  expected.  So  then,  our  classification  may  be  consid 
ered  successful,  in  proportion  as  it  avoids  repetitions,  and  ar 
ranges  the  parts  that  precede,  so  as  to  make  intelligible  those 
that  follow, — trusting  to  the  consistency  of  the  whole,  as  one 
of  its  main  arguments. 

We  will  now  endeavor  to  do  what  is  certainly  a  very  hard 
thing  to  do,  namely,  to  classify  the  classifications  of  this  very 
abstract  subject. 

§  2.  Zoological  Classifications. 
(a)  Zoological, — By  others. 

The  Zoological  classifications  of  Social  Science,  trace  analo 
gies  with  the  various  parts  of  a  man,  or  other  animal. 

Spencer  in  Westm.  Rev.,  and  in  Ills.  Prog.,  has  shown  many 
of  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  this  form  of  treatment. 
Plato  adopts  the  correspondence  of  reason,  will,  and  passion,  for 
the  divisions  of  society.  Hobbes  adopts  "that  Leviathan  great 
man  called  the  commonwealth,"  and  its  parts.  Swedenborg 
makes  the  societies  of  heaven  and  hell,  to  be  in  the  "  forms"  of 
a  man,  and  carries  out  the  analogies  into  the  very  minute  parts. 
It  has  often  seemed  to  the  writer,  that  Spencer's  splendid  classi 
fication  for  vegetable  and  animal  Biology,  might,  with  slight 
adaptations,  be  equally  splendid  for  Social  Biology ;  namely,  for 
Social  Science  itself. 

(b)  Zoological, — By  us. 

The  writer's  first  classification  was  MEDICAL  and  biological, 
as  follows :  and  in  the  subdi visions  of  each  of  the  five  main 
parts,  all  the  ones  (1s)  correspond  with  or  relate  to  each  other, 
and  all  the  twos  (2s)  with  each  other,  and  so  on,  with  the  3s 
and  4s. 

(I.)  Social  Physiology.- 

1.  Sensible    System. 

2.  Vital    System. 

3.  Motive   or   Mechanic   System. 

4.  Life-power   in   its   totality. 

(II.)  Social  Therapeutics. 

1.  Theory   of  Medicine. 

2.  Practice   of  Medicine. 

3.  Pharmacy. 

4.  Hygiene. 


52  BK-  I-      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.    I.  IX. 

(III.)  Sociological  Powers  and  Organs. 

1.  Mental,   Moral,    Psychological,    Mysterious   and    Philosophical. 

2.  Vital,    Circulative,    Unseen,    Scientific. 

3.  Motive,    Mechanical,    Material,    Structural,   Obvious,  and  Political. 

4.  Harmonious,    Completed   result,    Perfect    cure,  and   Limited    Com 
munism. 

(IV.)   Classes  of  Society. 

1.  Moral   and   Religious   classes. 

2.  Intellectual  and  Educated  classes. 

3.  Physical  classes. 

4.  Holy  Instinctive   classes  (?) 

(V.)  Departments  of  Government. 
\.  Constitutions. 

2.  Laws. 

3.  Usual   Offices. 

4.  New   Offices. 

§  3.  Abstract  Ungeneric  Classifications. 

Albert  Brisbane  classifies  thus :  Education  :  Industry :  Social 
Laws  and  Institutions :  Government :  Religion :  Accessory 
Branch,  including  Fine  Arts  and  Sciences. 

The  Chinese  "  Statutes  and  Rescripts  of  the  Great  Pure  Dy 
nasty,"  are  arranged  thus : — General :  Civil :  Fiscal :  Ritual : 
Military :  Criminal :  and  Public  Works. 

Carey  suggests  as  main  divisions,  simply: — Political  Econ 
omy  :  and  Jurisprudence. 

Mulford  in  his  preface,  implies  a  classification  which  may  be 
expressed  thus : — Political  Economy :  Jurisprudence :  Statistics 
(or  Statics?):  Political  History:  and  Political  Science  in  general. 

Here  follow  classifications  by  five  great  institutions:  and  then 
follow  two  of  our  Summary  ones.  (A)  is  of  the  British  Assoc. 
of  Soc.  Science.  (B)  is  of  the  European  International  Associa 
tion.  (C)  is  of  the  American  Assoc.  of  Soc.  Science.  (D)  is  of 
the  Western  Social  Sci.  Association.  (E)  is  of  the  School  of  the 
French  Empire,  for  its  course  of  studies.  (F)  is  our  Summary 
of  these  five,  made  for  a  comparison  of  them  with  one  of  our 
classifications,  to  be  given  hereinafter.  And  (G)  is  ours,  modi 
fied  here  for  the  comparison. 

The  perpendicular  lines  vary,  so  that  the  spaces  between  them, 
will  carefully  exhibit  the  comparative  scopes,  of  the  works  and 
of  the  sub-headings  of  their  respective  authors ;  i.e..  Law  in  (B) 
means  more  than  in  (A),  but  less  than  in  (C). — Finance  in  (D) 


CLASSIFICATIONS   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE.  53 

means  more  than  in  (E)  but  less  than  in  (F). — And  the  whole 
line  or  scope  of  (B,  D,  E  or  F)  means  more  than  in  (A)  or  (C) 
and  less  than  in  (G).  And  crime  in  (A)  consists  of  a  part  of 
what  (B)  calls  "  Law,"  and  a  part  of  what  it  calls  "  Health  and 
Charity." 

Social  Economy  |  Law  |  Crime  .     .     .  |  Health    .     .  |  Education  | 
Pol.-Economy     |  Law    .     .     .  |  Health  and  Charity   .     .  |  Art  &  Literature  | 

Finance    .     .     .  j  Law j  Health    .     .  |  Education  | 

Finance    .     .     .  |  Law |  Health    .     .  |  Education  |  Fine  Arts  | 

Finance    .     |  Political  Economy  |  Law |  Statistics  |  . .  ?  . .  | 

Financial      .     .     .      |  Political     .  |  Legal  .     .      |  Philosophical     .      .     .      | 
Property .     .     .     .     |  Politicals |  Philosophical    |  Personals    | 

§  4.   GENERIC   CLASSIFICATIONS. 

(a)    Generic, — By  others. 
Fourier's  ideas  may  be  classified  thus : — 

(I)  Universal  laws  of  matter  and  mind.     (1)  The  series  dis 
tributes  the  harmonies.   (2)  Attractions  are  proportioned  to  Des 
tinies.     (3)  Analogy  is  universal. 

(II)  Fundamental  passions  of  human  nature.     (1)  Sensuous 
desires.     (2)  Moral-Social  affections.     (3)  Intellectual  and  dis 
tributive  impulses.     (4)  Unity-ism. 

(III)  Fundamental  elements  of  society.     (1)  Capital.      (2) 
Science.     (3)  Labor. 

(IV)  Attractive  industry ;  chiefly  by  means  of  groups  within 
series,  systematically  and  harmonically  arranged. 

Both  Comte  and  Spencer  divide  Social  Science  into  Statics 
and  Dynamics ;  but  disagree  as  to  what  are  the  lines,  or  even 
what  the  principles,  of  the  division. 

Comte's  view  of  Social  Science  is  given  as  his  Social  Physics, 
and  may  be  condensed  thus : — Principal  Philosophical  Attempts 
at  a  Social  Science :  Characteristics  of  the  Positive  Method  in 
Social  Phenomena:  Relation  of  Sociology  to  Positive  Philos 
ophy;  Social  Statics,  or  Theory  of  the  Spontaneous  Order  of 
Society,  including  the  Individual,  the  Family,  and  Society  in 
the  abstract. 

Social  Dynamics,  or  Theory  of  the  Natural  Progress  of  So 
ciety  :  First  Theological  Phase,  Fetichism, — Beginning  of  the 
Theological  and  Military  System:  Second  Phase,  Polytheism, — 
Development  of  the  Theological  and  Military  System :  Third 
Phase,  Age  of  Monotheism, — Modification  of  the  Theological 


54 


BK.  I.     SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  IX. 


and  Military  System :  Metaphysical  and  Critical  Period  of 
Modern  Society :  Final  Tendency  of  Modern  Society :  Final 
Action  of  the  Positive  Philosophy. 

Spencer's  "  Social  Statics"  is  divided  as  follows : — Funda 
mental  Principles  :  Personal  Rights  :  Political  Rights  :  Connec 
tion  with  Social  Dynamics. 

His  proposed  new  work,  which  seems  to  be  his  Dynamics,,  is, 
(like  Comte's,)  to  consider  historical  progress  mainly ;  but  is  to 
be  divided  as  follows : — Pata  of  Sociology  :  Inductions  of  So 
ciology  :  Political  Organization :  Ecclesiastical  Organization : 
Industrial  Organization:  Ceremonial  or  Custom-Organization: 
Lingual  Progress  :  Intellectual  Progress  :  ^Esthetic  Progress : 
Moral  Progress :  Consensus. 

(6)  Our  Generic  Classification. 
Table  H. 


Supreme  .rrm-          Summary  Introduction  to 
ciplesofSo-              Social  Science 
cial  Science    J    1 

< 

Individual 

Highest 
Division  I  : 

Instinctive    or 
Spontaneous 

Family 
Social  Circle 

Analytics  of 
Social   Science 

Elements,  i. 
e.,  Units 

Precinct 
Nation 
Mankind 

Rational    De-  |    f 

liberative        >  <   Corporation 

^      Element        J    [ 

Highest 

Supreme  Prin-  " 
ciples  of 
Synthetics 

Introduction  to  Synthetics 
in  general 

Division  II  : 

Physical    Ele 

>  Property 
Life 

Synthetics  of 

ments 

Health 

Social    Science 

>  Intellectuals 

Metaphysical 

Morals 

Elements 

• 

Civil  Government 

^ 

^  Limited  Communism 

The  Science  of  Society  is  not  yet  sufficiently  developed,  to 
express  its  two  main  divisions  accurately ;  although  the  general 
conception  seems  clear  enough.  The  division  into  Statics  and 
Dynamics,  (of  Comte  and  Spencer,)  is  evidently  too  materialistic, 
inorganic,  and  lifeless.  But  Primary  and  Secondary,  speaking 


CLASSIFICATIONS   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE.  55 

in  a  figure  from  Geology,  might  answer.  Or  Anatomy  and 
Physiology;  or  Structure  and  Functions.  Or  we  might  say, 
Pure  Social  Science,  and  Applied  Social  Science ;  because,  in  the 
degree  of  abstractness,  the  Analytics  is  related  to  the  Synthetics, 
somewhat  as  Pure  Mathematics  is  to  Applied  Mathematics.  But 
we  prefer  the  terms  Analytics  and  Synthetics.  And  then  sub 
divide  as  annexed. 

(c)  Some  Higher  Comparisons. 

This  classification  (H)  by  summing  it  up  differently,  namely, 
as  our  (G)  in  the  ungeneric  classifications  previously  given 
(IX.  3),  may  be  compared  with  the  one  (F),  there  suggested  as 
a  summary  of  the  classifications  of  the  five  great  institutions 
there  cited.  This  comparison  may  be  made  thus : — • 

Economical  or  Financial  =  Property. 

Political,  includes,  Precinct,  Nation,  and  Corporation. 

Legal  is  Health,  Civil  Government,  and  Communism. 

Philosophical  only  touches  Summary  Introduction,  Individ 
ual,  Family,  Social  Circle,  Mankind,  Introduction  to  Synthetics, 
Life,  Intellectuals,  and  Morals. 

Approximating  the  three  in  tabular  form,  thus ; 


*  *  1 

Gl 
H 

|  Property 
Property 

.    .    .    Po 
Precinct 
Nation 
Corporation 

liticals    

Philosophicals    .... 
Summary  Introduction 
Mankind 
Introduction  to  Synthetics 
Life 
Intellectuals        x 
Morals 

•    •      I 
Personals       | 
Individual 
Family 
Social  Circle 

Health      .... 
Civil  Government 
Limited  Communism 

Compare  with  the  outline  of  Mr.  Spencer's  PROPOSED  Sociol 
ogy.  In  which  of  course  we  can  only  guess  where  he  would 
place  them. 

Spencer's.  Ours. 

Data  of  Sociology  \ 

Inductions  of  Sociology   }   '      '     '     ' 

Ecclesiastical  Organization 

Custom  Organization  Social  Circle 

C  Precinct 

Political  Organization  .  J  ^ation  , 

J   Corporation 

(^  Civil  Government 

Industrial  Organization  Property 

Lingual  Progress        )  T  ,  ,,         , 

Intellectual  Progress  /  Intellectuals 


56 


BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      I.  IX. 


Spencer's. 
Esthetic  Progress 


Moral  Progress 


Consensus:    and  interdependence  of 
structure  and  function. 


Ours. 

{Intellectuals 
Morals 
(  Health 
I   Individual 
1   Family 
^  Morals 
Introductions 
Mankind 
Communism 


(d)  Some  Transcendental  Analogies. 

The  general  relation  between  our  Analytics  and  Synthetics, 
is  analogous  to  the  two  kinds  of  primal  forms  of  solid  matter — 
"  Matter  has  two  solid  states,  distinguished  as  crystalloid  and 
colloid;  of  which  the  first  is  due  to  union  of  the  individual 
atoms,  and  the  second,  to  the  union  of  groups  of  such  indi 
vidual  atoms ;  and  of  which  the  first  is  stable  and  the  second 
unstable."  And  again  those  two  primal  kinds  are  typical  of  the 
still  more  primal  fundamental  kinds,  namely  solid  and  gaseous; 
(because  liquidity  is  only  a  transient  state  of  matter,  in  its  pas 
sage  from  solid  to  gas  or  from  gas  to  solid.)  Our  Analytical 
Elements  are  supposed  to  be  socially  the  individual  atoms ;  the 
Synthetics  are  supposed  to  consist  of  groups  metaphysically,  and 
hence  are  more  complicated. 

Next  observe  two  ascending  series,  resembling  the  octaves  of 
the  major  scale  in  music,  (do,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la,  si,  do,) — one  of 
which  takes  in  the  whole  eight  parts  of  the  analytics ;  and  the 
other,  the  whole  eight  of  the  synthetics.  They  are  to  be  read 
from  the  bottom,  upwards.  Musicians  will  understand  them. 


Analytics. 

8  Corporation. 

7  Mankind. 

6  Nation. 

5  Precinct. 

4  Social  Circle. 

3  Family. 

2  Individual. 

1  Introduction. 


Synthetics. 

8  Limited  Communism. 

7  Civil  Government. 

6  Morals. 

5  Intellectuals. 

4  Health. 

3  Life. 

2  Property. 

1  Introduction. 


CLASSIFICATIONS   OF   SOCIAL   SCIENCE. 


57 


In  the  following  four  classifications,  let  all  the  ones  (1s)  be 
compared  with  each  other,  and  all  the  twos  (2s)  with  each  other, 
and  so  on  ;  and  some  resemblances  will  be  observed,  besides  the 
more  obvious  ones  between  3s  and  4s  and  between  7s  and  8s. 


Comte's  Final  Outlines. 

1  Introduction. 

2  Mathematics. 

3  Astronomy. 

4  Physics. 

5  Chemistry. 

6  Biology. 

7  Sociology. 

8  [Ideal  Humanity.] 

Our  Synthetics. 

1  Introduction. 

2  Property. 

3  Life. 

4  Health. 

5  Intellectuals. 

6  Morals. 

7  Civil  Government. 

8  Limited  Communism. 


Our  Analytics. 

1  Introduction. 

2  Individual. 

3  Family. 

4  Social  Circle. 

5  Precinct. 

6  Nation. 

7  Mankind. 

8  Corporation. 

Oken's  Outlines  of  Biology. 

1  Organ  osophy. 

2  Phytogeny. 

3  Phyto-physiology. 

4  Phytology. 

5  Zoogeny. 

6  Physiology. 


7  Zoology. 

8  Psychology. 

We  have  many  other  such  analogies,  but  have  concluded  to 
omit  them. 

§  5.   Our  Order  of  Publication. 

As  in  music  the  tunes  are  made  by  generally  deviating  from 
the  order  of  the  gamut,  so  in  the  actual  publication  of  our  ideas, 
and  for  convenience'  sake ;  because  those  ideas  will  have  to  be 
published  only  gradually  and  in  parts,  as  separate  works,  we 
will  adopt  a  different  GENERAL  grouping.  But  what  that  gen 
eral  grouping  may  be,  we  do  not  know  in  advance ;  only  this 
much.  Our  New  Theory  of  Social  Science  would  be  pretty 
fairly  represented  by  (I)  Summary  Introduction,  or  Theory  of 
Social  Science  in  General.  (II)  The  Primary  Fundamental 
Politico-organic  elements,  namely,  Precinct,  Nation  and  Corpo 
ration.  And  (III)  The  Ultimate  Ideal,  viz.  Limited  Commu 
nism.  These  subjects  (we  say  nor  mean  not,  our  treatment  of 
them)  make  up  a  real  Principia  of  Social  Science. 


58  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  I. 


SUMMAEY   IITTKODUCTIOlSr  TO 
SOCIAL  SCIENCE. 


PART    II. 

PRINCIPLES    OF    SOCIETY    ITSELF. 
CHAP.  I.      PRELIMINARY. 

THAT  part  of  Social  Science  which  treats  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  society  itself,  taken  as  a  distinct  part  from  the 
principles  of  the  SCIENCE,  goes  on  the  assumption,  that  society, 
like  any  other  part  of  nature,  has  its  own  rules,  its  own  princi 
ples,  and  its  own  laws, — a  set  of  higher  laws  which  embrace 
and  over-rule  all  that  governments  and  governors  and  individ 
uals  do ;  whether  they  will,  or  not.  And,  to  investigate  these 
higher  laws,  is  one  of  the  principal  objects  of  Social  Science, 
and  is  the  particular  object  of  this  second  part  of  this  Intro 
duction.  Those  laws  which  are  too  general  for  any  other  part 
of  the  work,  are  collected  in  the  Introduction.  They  are  ar 
ranged,  not  so  much  in  the  order  of  subject  or  matter,  as  in  the 
order  of  their  abstractness  and  generality. 

CHAP.  II.      MOST   GENERAL   SOCIAL   LAWS. 

§  1.  Differences  of  Degrees  of  Things. 

In  the  higher  organizations  of  the  world,  whether  material  or 
social,  differences  of  degree  are  often  more  important  than  dif 
ferences  of  kind.  For  instance,  the  difference  between  the  most 
improved  and  the  least  improved  men,  of  any  one  and  the  same 
race,  is  greater  than  the  difference  between  the  most  improved 
of  the  lowest  race  and  the  least  improved  of  the  highest  race ; 
and  the  higher  you  rise  in  the  scale  of  being,  the  more  impor 
tant  the  difference  of  degrees  becomes.  Hence,  we  are  never  to 
be  disturbed,  in  the  separation  of  things  widely  different,  be 
cause  of  there  being  a  difficulty  or  even  an  impossibility,  of 
exactly  expressing  or  drawing  the  line,  between  them. 

In  every  question  relating  to  the  subject  of  governmental 


MOST    GENERAL   SOCIAL   LAWS.  59 

action,  the  question  of  the  degree  of  interference,  is  more  impor 
tant  than  the  abstract  one,  of  interference  at  all.  And  this 
holds  true  as  to  every  kin<J  of  government,  from  that  of  a  man 
over  his  dog,  to  that  of  the  Supreme  Being  over  the  universe. 
Moreover,  it  is  as  important  a  question,  when  referring  to  the 
differences  of  the  elements  of  materials  of  organic  worlds,  as  to 
the  differences  between  moral  rights;  as  we  will  now  try  to 
show. 

This  introduces  the  consideration  of  the  functions  of  the  in 
finities, — the  differentiations  and  integrations  in  the  "  calculus," 
whereby  infinite  differences  in  the  degrees,  make  entire  differ 
ences  in  the  kinds,  of  the  things  considered.  In  a  subsequent 
work  we  may  perhaps  show,  that  creation  itself  was  probably  a 
process  of  infinite  integrations  from  nothing,  and  that  the  im 
portance  of  degrees  pervades  all  creation,  in  regard  to  the  first 
principles  of  things. 

The  solution  of  the  analogies  between  the  physical  and  the 
intellectual  world,  can  be  found  in  only  one  or  the  other  of  two 
alternatives ;  namely,  either  in  the  Doctrine  of  Universal  Cor 
respondences,  or  in  our  doctrine  of  creation  by  integration.  But 
yet,  these  two  alternatives  are  not  incompatibles.  For,  if  the 
doctrine  of  correspondences  is  true,  our  doctrine  of  creation  by 
integration  does  not  interfere  with  it,  but  affords  the  only  rational 
explanation  of  it. 

All  the  other  explanations  of  creation  are  utterly  unsatisfac 
tory.  For,  materialism  is  merely  a  hiding  of  ignorance,  behind 
a  cloud  of  scientific  classifications.  And  Pantheism,  whether 
true  or  false,  is  of  no  practical  use  in  the  solution.  For,  whether 
God  created  matter  out  of  nothing,  or  whether  He  himself  only 
takes  the  form  of  matter ;  neither  alternative  explains  how  mind 
becomes  matter,  nor  how  matter  becomes  mind.  And  the  doc 
trine  of  the  eternal  self-existence  of  matter,  cannot  explain  how 
matter  becomes  mind,  only  by  going  back  to  Pantheism.  In 
fact,  both  the  materialistic  and  the  Pantheistic  philosophers, 
meet  and  stop  at  this  point  of  the  harmony  of  the  physical  with 
the  social  laws. 

Spencer's  great  idea,  and  what  runs  through  all  his  works,,  is, 
the  idea  of  EVOLUTION  from  homogeneity  into  heterogeneity; 
and  that  when  unity  becomes  differentiated  into  plurality,  each 


(JO  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  II. 

factor  becomes  an  outward  condition  tending  to  produce  changes 
in  the  other  factor.  But  yet  he  utterly  ignores  and  denies  the 
idea,  of  inherent  or  spontaneous  power,  in  any  factor,  to  change 
itself.  (See  Biology,  §  373,  and  elsewhere.)  How  strange  it  is, 
he  cannot  see,  that  if  the  germ  of  an  animalcule,  for  instance,  has 
no  spontaneous  power  to  change  itself,  neither  could  the  original 
nebula  of  the  universe  have  had  any  such  power,  either  by  the 
principle  of  "  infinite  chances,77  or  by  any  other  principle. 
§  2.  Analogies  with  Physical  Laws. 

In  addition  to  what  have  been  previously  given,  we  now  give 
some  of  Carey's  "General  Social  Laws,"  (abridged  edition, 
pages  526  and  527.)  "  The  simple  laws  which  govern  matter 
in  all  its  forms,  and  which  are  common  to  physical  and  to 
SOCIAL  SCIENCE,  may  now  be  briefly  stated  thus : — "  All  par 
ticles  of  matter  gravitate  towards  each  other,  the  attraction  being 
in  the  direct  ratio  of  the  mass,  and  the  inverse  one  of  the  dis 
tance.77  .  .  .  "  All  matter  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  the  cen 
tripetal  and  the  centrifugal  forces ;  the  one,  tending  to  the  pro 
duction  of  local  centres  of  action ;  the  other,  to  the  destruction 
of  such  centres,  and  the  production  of  a  great  central  mass  obe 
dient  to  but  a  single  law.77  .  .  .  "  The  more  perfect  the  balance 
of  these  opposing  forces,  the  more  uniform  and  steady  is  the 
movement  of  the  various  bodies,  and  the  more  harmonious,  the 
action  of  the  system  in  which  they  are  embraced.77  .  .  .  "  The 
more  intense  the  action  of  these  forces,  the  more  rapid  is  the 
motion,  and  the  greater  the  power.77 

"  Such  are  the  laws  which  govern  masses  and  atoms  [i.e.  re 
spectively]  ;  but  there  are  other  laws,  in  virtue  of  which,  masses 
are  reduced  to  atoms  ready  to  enter  into  chemical  combination 
with  each  other ;  the  tendency  towards  combination,  existing  in 
the  direct  ratio  of  the  perfect  individualization  of  the  particles.77 
These  laws  are : — "  That  heat  is  a  cause  of  motion  and  force ; 
motion  being,  in  its  turn,  a  cause  of  heat  and  force.77  .  .  .  "  The 
more  heat  and  motion  produced,  the  greater  is  the  tendency 
towards  acceleration  in  the  motion  and  the  force.77  .  .  .  "  The 
more  the  heat,  the  greater  is  the  tendency  towards  decomposition 
of  masses,  and  individualization  of  the  particles  of  which  they 
are  composed,  thus  fitting  them  for  entering  into  chemical  com 
bination  with  each  other.77  .  .  .  "  The  greater  the  tendency 


MOST   GENERAL   SOCIAL   LAWb.  gl 

towards  individualization,  the  more  instant  are  the  combina 
tions,  and  the  greater  the  force  obtained."  ..."  The  more  rapid 
the  motion,  the  greater  the  tendency  of  matter  to  rise  in  the  scale 
of  form."  ..."  At  every  stage  of  progress,  there  is  an  extension 
of  the  range  of  law  to  which  matter  is  subjected,  accompanied 
by  an  increase  of  the  power  of  self-direction,  subordination  and 
freedom,  keeping  steady  pace  with  organization." 

"  Studying  man,  we  find : — "  That,  association  with  his  fellow- 
man  is  a  necessity  of  his  existence."  ..."  That,  his  powers  are 
very  various,  and  that  the  combinations  of  which  they  are  sus 
ceptible  are  infinite  in  number,  there  being  throughout  the  world, 
no  two  persons  who  are  entirely  alike."  .  .  .  "That,  the  develop 
ment  of  those  infinitely  various  faculties,  is  wholly  dependent 
upon  the  development  of  individuality."  ..."  That,  the  greater 
the  diversity,  the  greater  is  man's  power  to  control  and  direct 
the  great  forces  of  nature,  and  the  larger  is  the  number  of  per 
sons  who  can  draw  support  from  any  given  space,  and  the  more 
perfect  the  development  of  the  latent  powers  of  both  earth  and 
man."  ..."  That,  the  more  perfect  the  development,  *  *  *  the 
more  rapid  is  the  societary  motion,  and  the  greater  the  force 
exerted." 

§  3.  Metaphysical  operation  of  Social  Laws. 

The  Social  Laws  in  general,  operate,  not  like  physical  laws, 
regardless  of  men's  faith  or  opinions  about  them }  but  to  a  great 
extent,  they  operate  like  the  spiritual  and  religious  laws  of  con 
science  ;  that  is,  they  operate  according  as  men  have  faith  and 
expectation.  At  any  rate,  many  of  the  laws  of  Social  Science 
produce  their  effects,  only  as  they  are  apprehended,  and  by  being 
apprehended,  by  the  reason  and  feelings  of  men.  Thus,  Distrust 
will  bring  a  financial  revulsion  or  "  panic,"  whilst  calm  trust  or 
heedless  indifference  or  even  ignorance,  will  sometimes  avert  one. 
Thus  it  is  that  speculation  interferes  with  the  legitimate  opera 
tion  of  so  many  of  the  laws  of  Political  Economy,  and  thus  makes 
the  study  become  one  of  human  nature  and  of  metaphysics,  in 
stead  of  a  study  of  finance.  The  metaphysical  conditions  which 
modify  laws,  and  often  even  reverse  their  supposed  effects,  are 
not  the  mental  states  of  those  by  whom  the  laws  are  made,  but 
of  those  by  whom  and  to  whom  the  laws  are  to  be  applied. 
Hence,  it  comes  to  pass,  that  the  intentions  of  law  makers  are 


62  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  II. 

nothing  towards  the  success  of  civil  laws ;  nor  commonly  are 
the  intentions  of  voters  or  electors  much  towards  the  success  of 
getting  either  the  candidates  or  the  measures  they  want. 
§  4.   Condensation  of  General  Social  Laws. 

Spencer's  four  great  principles  are,  (1)  That  evil  is  the  result 
of  non-adaptation  of  character  to  circumstances.  (2)  That  the 
better,  both  of  principles  and  races,  are  the  stronger  and  will 
gradually  prevail  over  the  worse,  and  thus  evil  tends  gradually 
to  disappear.  (3)  That  every  person  has  a  right  to  entire  lib 
erty,  so  far  as  his  liberty  does  not  interfere  with  the  equal  liberty 
of  other  persons.  (4)  That  this  principle  of  equal  liberty  is  the 
principle  of  justice,  and  must  be  supplemented  by  an  additional 
principle  of  "  negative  beneficence :"  (Soc.  Stat.  p.  98)  namely, 
"  voluntary  abstinence,  for  the  sake  of  others,  from  the  full  ex 
ercise  of  our  just  rights."  But  we  do  not  think  he  succeeds  in 
showing  how  this  latter  will  be  accomplished. 

Miraculously  or  else  traditionally  Revealed  Religion,  alone  can 
save  society,  as  well  as  the  Individual.  It  saves  by  general  prin 
ciples  and  general  means,  which  are  real  causes.  These  causes 
are  already  introduced  into  human  nature,  history  and  society. 
Nevertheless,  God  still  has  a  connection  with,  and  personal  rule 
over  those  causes,  and  also  over  persons, — so  that  the  ignoring 
of  God,  is  rebellion  against  him,  and  so,  necessarily  produces  a 
false  philosophy.  To  ignore  God,  even  in  the  spontaneous  dis 
appearance  of  evils,  is  to  put  stops  to  the  working  of  the  Cause 
of  the  spontaneous  disappearance,  and,  therefore,  stops  to  the 
disappearance  itself. 

The  spontaneous  elimination  and  evanescence  of  evils,  is  only 
of  WEAK  evils ;  unless,  onthat  ETERNAL  and  infinite  plane,  un 
known  to  mortals,  where  evil  itself  may  be  shown  to  be  weakness. 

It  is  true  yet,  and  must  continue  true  for  a  long  time,  that 
morality  and  government  must  be  the  chief  reliances,  as  substi 
tutes  for  that  Animal  instinct  which  guides  brutes  ;  and,  for  that 
science  of  humanity  which  is  not  yet  known. 

"All  force  expended  in  one  direction,  is  lost  in  some  other 
direction.  No  force  is  without  its  reciprocal  action."  The  earth 
holds  the  moon  in  its  course,  but  yet  the  moon  makes  the  tides 
on  the  earth,  and  even  draws  the  planet  itself,  some  measure,  out 
of  its  regular  course.  Compulsion  spoils  those  who  use  it. 


MOST    GENERAL   SOCIAL   LAWS.  63 

"  Man,  can  neither  create  nor  annihilate,"  passions  nor  social 
powers,  any  more,  than  physical  ones.  "All  that  he  can  do,  is 
to  direct  these  forces,"  and  to  set  them  to  balancing  each  other. 

Within  certain  but  only  narrow  limits,  wants  create  facilities 
and  inventions  and  discoveries.  This,  it  may  be  hoped,  will 
occur,  accordingly  as  men  are  brought  more  and  more  to  see  that 
they  have  great  and  real  social  needs,  and  to  see  the  evils  of  their 
own  systems. 

The  social  organism  is  like  the  individual,  in  being  subject  to 
a  law,  whereby  there  takes  place  a  process  of  adaptation  of  per 
sonal  character,  to  the  conditions  of  Nature  and  of  circumstance. 
But  still,  it  is  the  duty  of  Society's  doctors,  "  to  AID  Nature." 
As  Spencer  (Biology,  §  377)  says,  "  In  civilized  man  there  is 
going  on  a  new  class  of  equilibrations, — those  between  his  (own) 
actions,  and  the  actions  of  the  societies  he  forms.  (First  Prin. 
§  135).  Social  restraints  and  requirements  are  forever  altering 
his  activities,  and,  by  consequence,  his  nature ;  and  as  fast  as  his 
nature  is  altered,  social  restraints  and  requirements  undergo 
more  or  less  re-adjustment." 

The  higher  the  being,  whether  vegetable,  animal,  or  society, 
the  more  true  it  is  that  it  will  have  a  separate  organ  for  every 
different  vocation  or  function. 

The  makers,  judges,  and  executors  of  laws  are  human ;  and 
hence,  selfish  and  shortsighted.  And  therefore  we  must  consti 
tute  our  laws  accordingly ;  remembering  the  unreasonableness, 
&c.  of  the  men  who  are  to  administer  them. 

Government  of  all  kinds,  whether  civil  or  communistic  or 
family,  must  be  absolutely  free — in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  individuals  involved  in  the  application  of  any  principle  of 
law,  and  to  their  distance  in  space,  and  to  their  nearness  in 
morality  and  intellect. 

The  rights  of  the  great  divisions  or  Units  of  society,  must 
ever  be  held  inviolate.  And  in  mature  society,  there  are  princi 
ples  evolved  which  are  of  equal  rights  with  the  units. 

Laws  have  more  than  one  effect;  and  any  designed  effect 
requires  a  simultaneous  law-arrangement  of  two  or  more  laws, 
to  accomplish  it;  like  compounds  in  medicine,  and  like  the 
correcting  lenses  of  the  telescope. 

The  more  fit  concrete  and  nearer,  anv  function,  instinct,  or 


64  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  III. 

organ  is,  to  its  proper  direct  action,  the  less  must  be  the  applica 
tion  of  balances  or  checks  ;  and  vice-versa. 

We  must  remember  the  dualism,  of  even  the  good  powers  and 
orders,  that  exists  everywhere  in  nature ;  and  which,  in  Soci 
ology,  divides  the  representative  powers,  and  requires  laws  to  be 
double,  to  counteract  each  other's  refractions. 

Duality  runs  through  nature;  in  sexes;  in  centrifugal  and 
centripetal  powers ;  in  growth  and  decay ;  in  attraction  and 
repulsion;  in  mind  and  body;  in  church  and  state;  in  two 
parties;  in  two  kinds  of  chemical  affinities;  in  two  kinds  of 
electricity ;  in  good  and  evil ;  in  day  and  night,  &c.  The  dual 
ity  we  are  speaking  of,  is  not  like  that  which  Fourier  speaks  of, 
namely,  one  of  alternation  and  subversion ;  but  it  is  a  duality 
of  concurrence  •  and  production,  and  is  like  the  duality  of  sex 
which  pervades  all  nature,  and  which  perhaps  originates  from 
the  same  deep  and  hidden  causes  as  sex  itself.  Everywhere,  the 
world  is  propelled,  and  both  things  and  thoughts  begotten,  by 
the  duality  of  Resemblance  and  Contrast. 

CHAP.  III.    EQUILIBRATA   OF   SOCIETY. 

§  1.  Spontaneous  combining  powers. 

The  spontaneous  combining  powers  in  society,  act  to  combine 
both  those  that  are  alike,  and  also  those  that  are  opposite. 
These  combining  tendencies  consist  of  two  entirely  different 
kinds.  On  the  one  hand,  persons  whose  interests  and  feelings 
are  alike,  will  join  together  more  or  less  permanently.  And  on 
the  other  hand,  those  classes  and  races  which  are  very  opposite 
to  one  another,  will  naturally  seek  each  other's  society ;  because 
of  the  good  that  each  can  do  to  and  for  the  other,  and  because 
each  supplies  qualifications  that  the  other  lacks.  This  is  the 
relation  between  the  highly  educated  and  the  entirely  ignorant. 
This  also  is  the  relation  between  the  very  rich  and  the  very  poor. 
It  seems  even  to  find  a  counterpart  in  the  tacit  peace  between 
Roman  Catholics  and  Quakers ;  when  they  both  perhaps  are  at 
"  outs"  with  nearly  all  the  other  denominations. 

These  sorts  of  combinations  sometimes  or  frequently  take  a 
political  form,  and  result  in  some  of  the  most  unexpected  and 
reactionary  movements  in  government.  The  Tories  and  the 
Radicals  of  England  often  unite  with  such  results.  These  re- 


EQUILIBRATA   OF   SOCIETY.  65 

suits  seem  to  follow  also  from  other  causes.  Oftentimes  men  are 
found  who  take  special  pains  to  convince  the  world,-  that  they 
themselves  are  free  from  the  prejudice  that  might  naturally  be 
expected  in  their  class.  Thus,  the  Commoner  will  take  extra 
pains  to  show  by  his  manners  and  sentiments,  that  he  is  not  a 
u  Plebeian" ;  and  with  a  similar  ambition,  the  nobleman  will 
espouse  the  interests  and  the  measures  of  the  poorest  and  most 
needy.  Sentiments  thus  espoused  in  the  first  place  out  of  mere 
love  of  approbation, — become  in  time  the  sincere  convictions  of 
their  hearts,  or  at  any  rate,  the  permanent  policy  of  their  lives. 
The  result  is  also  aided  by  this,  that  there  are  always  some  per 
sons  who  will  become  peculiarly' disgusted  with  other  persons, 
for  the  very  prejudices  and  errors  with  which  they  themselves 
have  been  most  familiar,  namely,  those  of  their  own  class.  And 
to  become  disgusted  with  our  own  evils  is  rather  a  good  sign. 

A  careful  observer  of  society,  soon  perceives  the  mutual  at 
traction  between  the  highest  and  lowest  classes.  The  American 
internal  war,  and  indeed  most  other  such  wars,  have  been  pro 
duced  by  a  union  of  the  very  opposite  classes  of  society.  In 
fact,  these  two  classes  generally  act  together  in  England,  as  well 
as  in  this  country.  That  same  worldliness  which  is  generally 
the  cause  and  effect  of  splendid  success  in  the  fortunate,  pro 
duces  in  the  unfortunate,  indolence  and  vice,  which  soon  sink 
them  to  the  lowest  strata.  That  same  worldliness  produces,  also, 
an  inability  to  appreciate  that  which  is  best  and  -most  interior  in 
morals  and  religion,  and  a  tendency  to  the  showy  and  the  exter 
nal  ;  hence  there  come  certain  moral  sympathies  between  these 
opposite  classes,  far  stronger  and  deeper  than  are  commonly 
found  from  either,  towards  the  middle  classes.  Then  also,  the 
distance  is  so  great,  that  friction,  collision,  and  even  emulation 
and  envy,  are  precluded.  And  then  again,  each  of  these  classes 
can  do  for  the  other,  what  the  other  is  most  apt  to  need  or  to 
want,  both  in  things  that  are  right  and  also  in  things  that  are 
wrong. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  highest  and  lowest  live  more  nearly 
to  nature,  than  the  middling  classes.  The  lowest  live  so,  as  a 
matter  of  course.  The  highest  live  so,  because  they  are  elevated 
above  the  comparative  necessity  for  those  restraints,  both  on  pas 
sion  and  appearances  and  generosity,  which  trammel  the  middle 


QQ  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  III. 

classes.  Neither  party  being  much  afraid  of  "  society,"  and  both 
being  strongly  set  in  their  own  way  even  by  principles,  the  world 
fears  them,  respects  them,  and  even  tolerates  in  them,  vices  and 
oppositions  which  it  would  set  itself  against  with  crushing  force, 
in  the  middle  classes. 

The  good  order  of  society,  requires  the  ultimate  supremacy  of 
the  middle  classes,  in  the  actual  administration ;  but  at  least  the 
equality  with  them  of  the  highest  and  the  lowest,  in  the  consti 
tution  and  laws.  But  we  know,  that  the  exact  opposite  is  often 
the  real  state  of  the  case,  and  government  is  too  often  adminis 
tered  by  secret  coalitions  between  a  handful  of  the  very  highest, 
and  the  leaders  of  the  mobs,  and  thus  with  the  mobs  themselves. 
§  2.  Spontaneous  quarreling  powers. 

The  quarreling  powers  depend  somewhat,  upon  the  oppositions 
of  the  combining  powers  just  above  mentioned.  As  human 
nature  has  so  many  faults,  and  as  the  faulty  are  least  apt  to 
bear  with  the  faults  of  others,  it  soon  arises  that  those  persons 
and  those  classes  ages  and  races,  who  are  quite  near  together, 
both  in  interests  and  feelings,  become  prejudiced  against  each 
other  personally,  or  become  rivals  in  pursuits,  and  perhaps  both. 
This  occurs  as  soon  as  outward  pressure  is  removed.  And  then, 
unless  the  relationship  between  them  is  maintained  by  very  close 
bonds  indeed,  so  as  to  form  personal  or  corporation-friendships, 
the  parties  will  become  bitter  enemies.  Hence,  ages  races  and 
classes  who  are  near  each  other,  are  apt  to  quarrel  among  them 
selves,  and  form  cliques  in  social  intercourse,  or  parties  in 

politics. 

§  3.  Spontaneous  Reactionary  powers. 

There  is  a  class  of  latent,  corrective,  and  oscillating,  social 
powers.  But  the  PRINCIPLES  of  the  reaction  lie  deeper  in 
nature  than  we  can  very  easily  explain.  But  one  of  its  ele 
ments  evidently  is  a  love  of  novelty,  or  rather,  a  tendency  to  be 
fatigued  by  sameness,  even  of  the  best  things ;  and  of  course, 
much  more  so,  by  the  worst  things.  By  this  law,  an  age  of 
infidelity  will  sooner  or  later  be  succeeded  by  one  of  belief;  an 
age  of  sham  and  form,  by  one  of  sincerity  and  spirit.  Things 
after  long  disuse,  will  sometimes  come  up  again  with  all  the 
charm  of  novelty,  added  to  their  natural  beauty. 

This  is  probably  the  same  law  that  Comte  hints  at,  when  he 


EQUILIBRATA   OF   SOCIETY.  (37 

mentions  ennui,. as  one  of  the  bases  of  hope  for  the  improvement 
of  society. 

A  notable  instance  of  this  law  is,  that  "  one  of  the  latest  nov 
elties  in  French  journalism,  is  to  make  considerable  use  of  the 
New  Testament.  Alexander  Dulnas  so  thoroughly  appreciated 
the  love  of  novelty,  which  characterizes  his  countrymen,  that, 
in  one  of  his  novels  he  incorporated  a  large  part  of  one  of  the 
Gospels,  with  great  effect.  To  many  of  his  readers  it  was  the 
newest  part  of  his  book." 

Again,  take  the  case  of  children.  Children  suffer  in  conse 
quence  of  their  parents'  faults,  both  by  general  consequences, 
and  by  the  particular  consequence  of  the  entailment  of  a  heredi 
tary  tendency  to  the  same  fault.  This,  under  Christianity,  causes 
the  children  to  dislike  the  fault  as  a  kind  of  inherited  slavery. 
The  sin  in  the  parents,  having  been  more  or  less  voluntary,  was 
guilt :  but  in  the  child,  at  first,  the  tendency  or  the  fault  not 
being  of  moral  freedom,  is  not  guilt,  and  so  makes  room  for  the 
possibility  of  more  or  less  of  self-developing  cure,  which,  real 
guilt  would  perhaps  not  be  able  to  accomplish. 

In  human  nature  there  are  certain  sympathies  for  the  injured 
and  the  down-trodden,  that  will  sooner  or  later  arouse  influences 
for  their  relief.  Even  if  a  class  are  so  far  down  in  the  social 
and  moral  scale,  as  seldom  to  furnish  to  outward  observers  any 
instance  of  the  nobler  or  better  powers  of  human  nature, — if  they 
are  so  low  that  FACTS  can  say  but  little  in  their  favor;  then  FIC 
TION  will  take  up  their  cause,  and  fancy  will  imagine  and  paint 
specimens  of  their  imaginary  heroes  in  unknown  circumstances. 

The  lower  and  more  degraded  the  class  really  is,  the  more 
strange,  the  more  picturesque,  the  more  startling,  and  the  more 
effective,  the  fiction  will  prove.  It  is  in  strict  accordance  with 
these  great  principles,  or  metaphysical  laws  of  society,  that  the 
book  called  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  has  had  such  a  powerful  influ 
ence  in  counteracting  slavery.  Similar  tendencies  worked  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  aiding  in  the  emancipation  of  the  European  serfs. 

One  of  the  principal  features  of  modern  fiction  consists,  in  the 
exhibition  of  unexpected  goodness  in  that  unfortunate  class  of 
women,  for  whom  general  society  seems  to  have  no  practical 
sympathy,  and  in  regard  to  whom,  those  who  have  sympathy 
seem  almost  hopeless  of  any  method  to  produce  much  practical 


63  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  III. 

\ 

good.  But  observe, — the  rise  and  prevalence  of  this  kind  of 
fiction,  is  exactly  and  immediately  preceding  a  strong  feeling 
among  the  leaders  of  some  of  the  benevolent  societies,  that  some 
thing  can,  and  ought  to  be  done  for  them,  more  than  can  be  done 
by  merely  individual  charity.  The  efforts  of  these  benevolent 
persons,  are  as  yet  a  mere  imperceptible  item  in  the  hidden  re 
cesses  of  society,  doing  little,  and  scarcely  hoping  much  from  any 
means  at  their  command.  But  they  are  types  and  prophecies. 

The  natural  sympathy  of  society  here  at  work,  must  be  strictly 
distinguished  from  that  morbid  sympathy,  which  feels  only  or 
chiefly  for  the  murderer  or  the  criminal,  and  little  useful 'sympathy 
for  the  victim ;  a  mere  self-righteous  sentimentalism  sometimes, 
or  an  affectation  of.  singularity.  The  fact  is,  that  confounding 
the  poor  outcast  women, — the  victims  of  society, — with  those 
who  make  society  their  victims,  namely,  the  robbers  and  swin 
dlers  and  real  criminals,  is  one  of  the  principal  reasons  why  the 
criminals  themselves  cannot  be  ferreted  out  and  punished.  The 
defensive  natural  sympathies  and  powers  of  society,  can  only  be 
claimed  for  criminals  in  so  far  as  crime  is  the  necessary  result 
of  misfortune  and  oppression ;  which  is  not  the  case  with  most 
criminals  in  the  United  States.  Moreover,  the  defensive  natural 
powers  of  society,  cannot  be  appealed  to  in  any  such  a  manner 
as  to  exclude  society  from  the  right  to  defend  itself  effectually, 
and  by  whatever  means  necessary,  from  its  aggressors, — those 
who  are/enlisted  in  a  selfish  habitual  and  professional  war  against 
it,  and  against  every  victim,  unfortunate  enough  to  fall  under 
their  skill  or  power. 

§  4.  Evils  balancing  each  other. 

Evils  will  produce  their  effects  in  some  manner.  They  often 
counteract  each  other:  but  not  without  producing  special  evils 
that  would  not  follow  from  counteracting  evil  by  good,  or  by 
the  power  of  justice.  This  is  well  illustrated  by  McCosh  on  the 
Divine  Government,  and  by  a  late  book,  "  The  Gospel  of  Good 
and  Evil,"  of  which  some  extracts  are  here  quoted  from  "The 
Radical"  for  May,  1869.  "Gambling  is  a  species  of  mental 
exhilaration.  The  spirit  of  adventure  is  inherent,  and  bestows 
that  peculiar  i  nerve  which  risks,  encounters,  and  overcomes." 
"  The  petty  vexations  of  life,  and  ebullitions  of  ill-humor,  keep 
the  passions  in  daily  drill ;  just  as  soldiers  in  peace  keep  up  the 


EQUILIBRATA   OF   SOCIETY.  69 

martial  spirit  by  drilling,  by  petty  quarrels,  duels,  and  wrangling 
brawls.  Family-miffs  are  a  grand  institution  for  giving  needful 
repose  and  after-exhilaration,  to  overtasked  affection."  "  Tobacco 
narcotizes  the  baser  passions  and  appetites, — it  lulls  the  BEAST  to 
repose.  Many  an  angry  word  and  violent  action  are  diverted 
from  the  wife  and  children,  by  the  soothing  action  of  the  pipe." 
"  The  uses  of  fashion  and  vanity  are  found  in  their  conservative 
influence  upon  morals ;  and  their  propulsive  power  in  human 
progress,  makes  them  indispensable  agents  for  good."  "Slander 
springs  from  useful  exuberance  of  the  organ  of  self-esteem. 
What  an  ingenious  contrivance  is  scandal,  to  give  ebb  and  flood 
and  never-ceasing  movement,  to  the  moral  atmosphere !  With 
easy  grace  would  unwatched  virtue  yield  to  temptation,  and  a 
sorry  condition  of  society  would  ensue."  "  It  is  to  the  criminal 
propensities  of  man  that  we  owe  civilization.  Crime  first  sug 
gests  and  compels  men  to  organize,  that  a  system  of  defense  may 
be  adopted  against  this  evil." 

Alas,  that  the  Radicals  cannot  make  a  better  basis  for  civiliza 
tion,  than  the  foregoing  crime-begetting  one. 

§  5.  Equilibrity  of  sentiments. 

Another  of  the  general  social  laws,  is  a  certain  instinctive 
tendency  of  the  opinions,  of  an  individual  or  of  a  society, 
towards  a  certain  ideal  equilibrium.  In  other  words,  one  set 
of  opinions  tends  to  equilibrate  another  set  of  opinions ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  dangers  of  one  part  of  one's  opinions  are  counteracted 
by  the  eccentricities  of  another  part.  The  why  and  wherefore 
of  this,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  explain.  Some  might  attribute  it  to 
their  peculiar  theory  of  the  equilibritiveness  of  human  character 
itself.  They  tell  us  that  at  bottom,  there  is  very  little  difference 
of  inward  moral  character  between  different  persons  notwith 
standing  the  differences  of  their  outward  characters.  But,  while 
this  may  be  true  of  the  spontaneous  characters  of  races,  of  neigh 
borhoods,  and  of  all  hereditary  classes, — it  can  scarcely  be  true 
of  those  classes  which  are  self-selected.  However,  the  position 
is  probably  true  as  to  the  mere  opinions  and  sentiments,  (apart 
from  the  passionate  actions),  of  the  generality  of  men,  in  any 
given  status  of  civilization.  And,  being  true  of  the  individuals 
generally,  and  the  generality  of  individuals  making  the  ruling 
sentiment  of  a  locality, — we  may  say  that  the  aforesaid  position 


70  BK.  I-      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  IV. 

is  true  of  natural  societies,  precincts,  and  nations ;  and  this  may 
therefore  be  a  sufficient  explanation  of  this  equilibritiveness  of 
the  opinions  and  sentiments,  that  we  are  now  speaking  of.  But 
it  applies  LESS  directly  to  a  corporation  considered  by  itself. 

§  6.   Calculus  of  Variations. 

The  spontaneous  reactionary  powers,  also  the  self-counter 
balancing  of  evils  and  of  opinions,  and  all  the  equilibrata  that 
we  have  pointed  out,  seem  to  show  how  the  distant  branches  of 
mankind  can  never  fly  off  from  the  general  course,  beyond  cer 
tain  limitations.  In  this  respect,  the  study  of  these  reactions  is 
like  La  Grange's  calculus  of  variations,  which  was  invented  pur 
posely  and  applied  to  show,  that  the  variations  in  the  orbits  of 
our  planets, — which  some  astronomers  feared,  would  sometime 
"  endanger  the  stability  of  the  solar  system/' — had  limits,  within 
the  very  same  mechanical  forces  that  produced  them, — sufficient 
to  prevent  those  dire  results,  and  in  due  time,  to  cause  a  reaction 
and  return  to  former  curves.  There  are  limits,  probably,  even 
to  the  distance  that  lost  souls  can  make,  of  separation  from  the 
race.  The  Psalmist  says,  although  he  "  make  his  bed  in  hell, 
God  is  there."  (Psalm  cxxxix.  8.)  And,  vice-versa,  what  con 
cerns  us  more  to  know, — there  may  be  limits  to  the  distance,  the 
saved  can  rise  above  the  lost. 

CHAP.  IV.      CONSTITUTION   OF   SOCIETY. 

§  1.  Real  bonds  of  society. 

Society  is  held  together  by,  and  happiness  in  it  depends  upon, 
the  following  things, — Love  of  the  other  sex, — Acquaintanceship, 
— Material  or  business  interests, — Education,  its  interests  and  its 
literature, — Goodness,  namely,  doing  justice  to  others,  and  for 
bearance  under  injustice  real  or  apparent : 

Limitation  of  the  habitable  Earth.  This  becomes  a  stronger 
bond  gradually,  as  population  increases,  and  as  barbarism  and 
isolation  become  less  possible,  and  thus  the  geographical  limita 
tions  force  men  into  some  society  or  other. 

Government  and  Laws.  The  comparative  power  of  govern 
ment,  as  a  bond  holding  society  together  in  peace,  decreases  with 
the  increasing  limitations  of  the  Earth  by  increase  of  population ; 
but  its  power  FOR  GOOD  OR  EVIL,  correspondingly  increases,  as 
the  possibility  of  escape  from  it  decreases. 


CONSTITUTION    OF   SOCIETY.  71 

The  question  how  far  we  can  have  good  government,  depends, 
in  part,  on  the  amount  and  force  of  error  and  human  infirmity, 
and  not  only  on  wickedness  or  sin,  and  hence  there  is  special  use 
of  light  and  knowledge  on  the  subject. 

Patriotism  as  a  selfish  NATIONAL  feeling,  is  only  a  temporary 
bond,  of  isolated  nations  and  of  unsettled  ages.  Its  foreign 
effects  are  as  bad  as  its  domestic  are  good ;  therefore  these  nullify 
one  another,  and  make  it  of  no  account  morally  in  the  highest 
view  of  the  ultimate  results.  But  the  spirit  of  patriotism  can 
easily  be  stimulated  to  act  for  one's  own  immediate  neighborhood, 
as  well  as  for  one's  nation ;  and  so,  be  made  to  act  for  both  the 
centrifugal  and  centripetal  forces  of  society.  Yet  still,  its  evil 
foreign  effects  entitle  it  to  but  little  approbation. 

But  patriotism  as  a  self-sacrificing  feeling  of  human  love, 
such  as  naturally  expands  always  to  be  co-extensive  with  national 
and  human  intercourse,  is  a  very  necessary  element. 

In  ordinary  times,  the  offices  whether  of  church  or  state,  do 
not  fall  to  the  best  men,  but  rather  the  reverse.  All  affairs  when 
they  become  ordinary,  are  apt  to  become  matters  of  business; 
and  business  matters  are, — well,  we  need  not  say  what.  But  at 
any  rate,  there  are  necessary  and  higher  elements,  both  in  church 
and  in  state,  than  can  possibly  be  made  matters  of  business. 
Every  one  sees,  this  is  true  as  to  religion.  But  it  is  not  so  gen 
erally  seen  as  to  politics.  And  yet,  it  is  just  as  impossible  to 
conduct  political  affairs,  without  a  high  degree  of  patriotism,  as 
it  is  to  conduct  religious  affairs  without  a  high  degree  of  piety. 
And  this  high  degree  of  patriotism  in  the  one  kind  of  officers, 
is  just  as  necessary  as  the  high  degree  of  piety  in  the  other  kind. 

In  ordinary  circumstances,  the  conduct  of  political  affairs 
becomes  the  net  resultant  of  contrasting  interests,  embodied  in 
conflicting  parties,  sects,  avocations,  and  classes  of  society.  Now, 
just  imagine  what  a  bedlam  or  pandemonium,  a  church  is  turned 
into,  when  it  becomes  merely  the  resultant,  the  prize,  and  the 
theatre,  of  such  conflicting  embodiments,  or  even  of  such  con 
tending  spirits.  And  the  state  becomes  turned  into  its  own  pe 
culiar  kind  of  a  bedlam  or  pandemonium,  when  its  living  spirit, 
patriotism,  is  suppressed,  and  the  embodiments  of  the  other 
great  passions  and  interests  of  men,  rise  to  the  top  and  swim  in 
corruption,  or  sail  in  a  hurricane  of  war;  or  both. 


72  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  IV, 

§  2.   Tests  of  a  good  social  condition. 

Comte's  general  test  of  a  true  social  system  is,  that  it  must  be 
in  harmony  with  itself,  in  all  its  parts,  in  all  its  details,  and  in 
all  its  consequences,  as  reasoned  out  by  the  finite  mind.  So 
impracticable  indeed,  is  such  a  test,  that  Comte  himself,  in  his 
arguments,  treats  it  as  if  it  must  not  only  be  consistent  with 
itself;  but  that  all  its  advocates  and  believers,  as  also  its  hypo 
critical  assumers,  must  be  in  harmony  with  one  another  about  it. 
But  we  will  try  to  present  a  more  practical  view. 

(a)  General  Tests.  Tho  true  objects  of  a  government,  and 
the  true  tests  of  a  good  social  condition,  are  not  form  but  spirit ; 

not  any  particular  " ocracy,"  but  the  physical  and  moral 

good  of  the  people  in  the  long  course  of  ages.  The  general  aim 
is  the  greatest  amount  of  permanent  individual  happiness  to  all, 
with  the  least  suffering  to  any.  For  national  without  individual 
happiness  is  mere  vanity.  Special  regard  must  be  paid  then,  to 
all  the  conditions  that  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  the  Indi 
vidual  Unit : — Increase  of  population,  early  marriage,  family 
harmony,  respect  for  age  by  youth,  vegetable  diet  in  dense  pop 
ulations,  tillage,  health  and  longevity,  productiveness  not  too 
much  in  advance  of  the  amount  of  productions  wanted  ; — Econ 
omy  in  consumption,  moral  and  physical  improvement  of  the 
race,  manifestation  of  the  unity  of  interests  between  Individuals, 
classes,  and  societies ;  men  doing  the  right  things  from  attrac 
tions,  or  freedom  in  motives  and  feelings, — Independent  benev 
olent  study,  as  well  as  physical  labor,  made  attractive, — "Indi 
rect  concurrence  of  the  passions  and  inequalities  which  are  now 
discordant," — Feelings  and  ideas  trained  into  habits  in  harmony 
with  true  interests, — Variety  of  occupation,  turning  labor  into 
exercise, — Labor  in  groups  or  companies, — Worthy  and  moral 
enjoyment  for  honest  wealth, — The  settlement  of  new  lands, 
regulated  in  so  orderly  and  gradual  a  manner  as  to  carry  the 
comforts  and  blessings  of  civilization  with  it, — Righteous  dis 
tribution  of  rewards  or  payments  to  and  among,  capital,  indus 
try,  intellect,  and  morality;  honesty  and  peace,  giving  the 
greatest  inducements  to  industry ;  and  the  lowest  rate  of  interest 
for  capital. 

(6)  Tests  in  Morality : — Faith,  reverence,  truth,  and  utility, 
being  appreciated  and  held  in  the  highest  and  in  equal  values, 


CONSTITUTION   OF   SOCIETY.  ,73 

— Certainty  of  rewards  according  to  individual  deserts, — In- 
frequency  of  dishonesty  and  falsehood,  and  their  ill-success, — 
Amount  of  common  virtue  being  enough  to  cause  men  to  con 
tinue  moral,  whilst  there  is  an  ever  increasing  release  from  the 
need  to  labor, — Harmonizing  liberty  with  the  qualifications  to 
use  it  well,  so  that  neither  may  be  too  far  in  advance  of  the 
other, — General  contentment  with  station  and  circumstances, 
consistent  with  religion,  virtue,  and  education, — High  moral 
tone,  especially  for  honesty  and  peace,  both  of  officers  and  of 
laws,  and  of  national  conduct  and  character. 

(c)  Tests  in  Fashions: — Artificial  refinements  and  consump 
tion,  so  far  as  are  necessary  to  furnish  employment  for  all.    These 
are  necessary  in  the  proportion  that  the  land  can  support  more 
than  it  employs  to  work  it ;  and  also  in  proportion  to  the  human 
imperfections  that  need   labor  to  prevent  vice  and  waste  of 
health. — Fashions  that  will  make  honesty  and  industry,  mar 
riage   and    healthy  children,  honorable, — A  fashion   that  will 
adopt  as  its  luxuries,  science,  beauties  of  taste,  and  in  general, 
"the  products  of  much  labor  rather  than  of  expensive  mate 
rial  ;"  where  the  luxuries  shall  be  in  home-arrangements,  "  pic 
tures,  furniture,"  &c.,  rather  than  in  outward  show, — Where  the 
number  of  the  unnecessary  things,  and  not  their  value,  is  the 
greatest,  and  where  the  things  themselves  are  least  injurious,— 
Where  the  idle  and  luxurious  persons  (who  require  these  lux 
uries),  are  the  fewest  in  number,  but  where  the  many  could  get 
them  honestly,  if  they  did  not  already  prefer  better  customs. 

(d)  Tests  as  to  labor : — That  all  parties  who  are  engaged  in 
any  work  should  have  the  fairest  share  of  the  profits ;  that  is, 
where  labor,  capital,  science,  and  morals,  come  nearest  to  having 
each  an  equal  share ;  where  the  co-operative  and  mutual  prin 
ciples  are  carried  out  to.  their  fullest  extent  to  those  who  will  re 
ciprocate,  whether  domestic  or  foreign  parties,  so  far  as  can  be, 
without  receiving  their  vices, — Where  wages  are  remunerative, 
and  the  times  of  work  reasonable,  especially  for  women  and 
children, — Where  the  prices  of  products  and  the  times  of  labor 
are  least,  in  proportion  to  the  cost  of  living,  including  both 
the  necessaries  of  nature  and  the  artificial  innocent  demands 
of  custom. 

(e)  Tests  as  to  government : — Where  taxation  is  incidentally  a 


74  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  IV. 

means  to  the  furtherance  of  all  the  aims  mentioned  above, — 
Where  government  attempts  especially  to  mitigate  the  evils  of 
its  own  production,  the  inevitable  results  of  the  social  organiza 
tion  ;  rather  than  to  interfere  with  individual  or  local  liberties, — 
Where  government  cooperates  in  these  good  ends,  by  its  own 
examples,  officers,  and  laws, — Where  there  are  natural  checks 
and  balances  really  operative,  and  where  the  antagonistic  forces 
of  government  are  in  due  moral  equilibrium, — Where  govern 
ment  has  the  convictions  of  all  classes  of  the  people  with  it, — 
Where  government  is  a  true  representation  of  the  feelings  of 
all,  and  recognizes  in  due  proportion,  all  the  distinctions,  and 
guards  against  all  the  prejudices  actually  in  existence.  Govern 
ment  is  a  falsity,  in  proportion  as  it  ignores  (or  pretends  igno 
rance  of)  the  distinctions  and  prejudices  which  society  itself 
spontaneously  develops.  (In  a  republican  government,  all  that  is 
meant  is,  not  class  representation,  but  suitable  laws  to  provide 
against  any  one  class  doing  injustice  to  a  weaker  or  less  active 
or  less  numerous  class ;  and  suitable  forms  to  the  same  end) — A 
proper  representation  and  balance  between  the  personal  Units 
and  Analytical  Elements,  namely  Individual,  Family,  Precinct, 
and  Corporation.  (Freedom  of  Individuals  is  not  possible,  unless 
they  have  the  privilege  of  segregating  themselves,  both  in  Pre 
cincts  and  voluntary  corporations  of  their  own  preferences) — 
Where  government  if  republican,  secures  that  the  people  shall 
be  educated  and  trained  properly  for  the  functions  of  citizens. 
This  requires,  first,  good  family  government ;  second,  that  edu 
cation  shall  be  of  the  judgment,  and  produce  social  wisdom, 
rather  than  be  of  all  knowledge,  or  merely  for  worldly  success ;  ' 
third,  that  the  true  science  of  society  should  be  held  of  the 
highest  importance,  and  most  properly  taught,  not  only  to  the 
young,  but  also  to  the  general  public. 

§  3.   The  spirit,  not  the  form. 

More  importance  Is  usually  attached  to  forms  of  government, 
and  forms  of  election  and  forms  of  society,  than  is  consistent 
with  social  prosperity.  The  spirit  or  principle  should  be  the 
ultimatum.  Any  Nation  or  any  society  could  be  governed  by 
an  administration,  partly  composed  of  all  three  forms  of  gov 
ernment,  as  well  as  of  one,  provided  such  a  society  were  char 
acterized  by  harmony  and  fraternization  within,  and  by  peace 


CONSTITUTION   OF   SOCIETY.  75 

outwardly.  Common  sense  instructs  us,  that  the  truth  which 
applies  to  denominational  distinctions  of  churches  and  forms, — 
the  truth  that  creeds  or  forms  do  not  alter  true  Christianity,  also 
applies  to  civil  and  political  distinctions.  So  that,  if  we  WILL 
idolize  the  forms,  then  our  politicians  and  demagogues  WILL 
make  us  pay  for  it.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  hate  or  be  jeal 
ous  of  other  governments  :  only  in  that  secondary  sense  that  our 
jealousy  causes  them  apprehension  of  aggression  from  us. 

The  form  should  be  allowed  to  develop  from,  and  thus  to  suit 
the  spirit.  And  the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  to  preserve, 
in  society  and  in  government,  a  right  spirit.  But  the  ultimate 
intentions  or  aims,  are  not  by  any  means  what  constitute  the 
spirit.  The  spirit  of  any  party  is  far  more  plainly  exhibited  by 
the  means  they  are  willing  to  use,  than  by  their  intentions  or 
aims.  And  the  higher  a  true  civilization  becomes,  the  more  men 
must  and  will  adhere  to  right  and  fair  means,  as  well  as  to  right 
and  fair  ends.  Thus,  the  character  of  the  means  is  the  best  test 
of  the  character  of  the  spirit. 

Now,  the  means  used  are  generally  represented  by  forms  of 
organization.  For,  in  social  affairs,  the  very  first  and  mildest 
and  most  specious  development  of  the  wrong  spirit,  probably, 
takes  place  in  an  idolatrous  attachment  to  usual  forms.  Such  a 
refusal  to  progress,  at  once  becomes  a  disease,  and  ends  in  social 
or  political  death.  Hence,  all  forms  of  organization  must  undergo 
changes, — and  all  old  organizations  must  pass  away  and  be  fol 
lowed  by  new  and  different  ones, — if  we  would  allow  society  to 
progress  really.  Nor  will  these  changes  be  always  nor  usually  a 
return  to  former  ones,  but  often  to  entirely  new  ones,  utterly 
unconceived  of  until  the  time  towards  their  appearing.  This 
applies  of  course,  not  only  to  voluntary  societies,  but  also  to  all 
the  forms  of  government. 

Says  Wendell  Phillips,  (May  28, 1868);  "  It  seems  to  me  that 
organization  is  a  mile-stone,  which  represents  how  far  opinion  had 
traveled  when  it  crystallized  into  an  organization.  You  cannot 
expect  of  *  *  *  organization,  necessarily  in  its  shape  as  an 
organization,  an  acceptance  of  any  NEW  idea.  As  long  as  it  can 
recognize  its  own  place,  and  let  you  take  yours,  it  is  to  be  fellow- 
shipped,  not  as  a  force  in  the  movement  of  society,  but  as  a 
breakwater  and  anchor  to  keep  what*  we  have  gained." 


7(5  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  V. 

§  4.   The  New  Reliances. 

Our  new  theory  of  Social  Science  may  be  compared  with  the 
old,  as  to  its  main  dependencies,  in  the  following  respects.  In 
stead  of  relying  chiefly  on  lengthy  details  in  profuse  constitutions 
and  laws ;  our  theory  relies,  partly,  on  a  proper  and  national 
representation  in  laws  and  government,  of  all  the  principal  active 
powers  and  constituencies ;  and  partly  on  more  and  more  consti 
tuting  special  and  voluntary  organs  for  each  particular  kind  of 
duty ;  and  partly  on  constituting  the  framework  of  government 
on  the  truly  analytical  Elements  of  human  society,  that  is  to  say, 
on  the  philosophical  Units  of  our  Social  Science.  Or,  to  sum  it 
briefly,  our  theory  relies  chiefly  on  the  real  powers,  instead  of  on 
mere  verbiage.  And  this,  not  so  much  by  checks  and  balances 
of  power,  as  by  leaving  to  each  its  proper  and  natural  duties. 

This  new  basis  of  reliance  differs  from  the  old  in  this  respect : 
The  old  basis,  exactly  prescribing  how  everything  shall  be  done 
proved  and  finished,  is  exceedingly  simple  in  theory,  but  inex 
tricably  complicated  and  uncertain  in  practice ;  and  is  ever 
becoming  more  and  more  complicated,  and  more  and  more 
entangled,  and  is  felt  to  be  more  and  more  defeating  to  the  very 
objects  of  government :  But  the  new  proposed  basis,  whilst  com 
plex  in  theory  of  organization,  is  simple  in  its  practical  appli 
cation,  and  ever  tending  to  become  more  and  more  productive 
of  the  true  ends  of  government.  Like  as  in  medicine,  a  philo 
sophical  analysis  of  diseases,  enables  the  practitioners  to  have 
easy  work  in  their  applications;  but  the  brief  axioms  and 
phrases  of  "  quacks,"  are  apt  to  require  all  guesswork  in  their 
particular  application.  And  what  evils  would  happen  under  a 
scientific  system,  would  manifest  clearly  and  at  once,  where  the 
fault  or  cause  was  to  be  found.  Men  and  institutions  would 
manifest  their  peculiar  character  with  more  simplicity,  and  thus 
they  would  each  bear  their  own  burden,  whether  of  praise  or 
blame,  and  would  be  revised  accordingly. 

CHAP.  V.   THE   DOCTRINES   OF   PEOGRESS. 

§  1.  In  General. 

For  reasons  previously  stated,  we  cannot,  as  some  do,  make 
the  theory  and  doctrines  of  progress  swallow  up  the  whole 
theory  and  classification  of  Social  Science ;  because  those  doc- 


DOCTRINES   OF   PROGRESS.  77 

trines  are  only  to  be  obtained  as  the  last  and  highest  results  of 
the  science.  Here  it  happens  as  in  the  case  of  Astronomy.  At 
a  certain  advanced  stage,  the  science  came  to  a  stand-still  for 
want  of  more  abstract  analysis.  Hence,  the  Differential  and 
Integral  Calculus  were  devised.  Just  so,  the  Dynamics  which 
Comte  and  Spencer  were  seeking,  cannot  we  think  be  found 
until  some  new  and  transcendental  method  of  social  analysis  is 
arrived  at. 

All  that  Comte  argues  for,  can  be  accomplished  by  and  in  our 
Precincts.  And  after  that,  most  of  what  Spencer  argues  for, 
may  be  applied  to  a  national  government  including  such  Pre 
cincts.  And  in  the  mean  time,  many  of  Mr.  Mill's  views  may 
be  regarded  as  eminently  practical  for  the  transition  state. 

"  Order  and  progress  both  come  from  one  and  the  same  set" 
of  suitable  conditions  of  the  corresponding  forces.  And  of  the 
two  forces  whose  resultant  is  order  and  progress,  one  consists 
of  imitativeness,  the  customary,  and  the  moral,  including  the 
rational ;  and  the  other  consists  of  the  governmental  forces. 

"  Between  different  stages  of  progress,  there  is  a  time  of  con 
fusion  and  chaos/'  either  of  forces  or  of  ideas  or  of  both.  And 
this  is  true,  not  only  in  general,  but  also  in  regard  to  progress 
in  each  particular  point. 

The  progress  of  society,  is  a  process  of  life;  only  to  be  ex 
amined,  by  the  principles  and  sciences  of  life.  And  divine 
morality  is  a  process  of  world- wide  and  eternal  life. 

In  the  early  stages  of  society,  the  direct  or  immediate  causes 
of  action  may  be  interests ;  but  the  indirect  permanent  and  deep 
causes  are  feelings.  Nevertheless,  the  more  society  becomes  en 
lightened  intellectually,  the  more  will  interest  become  one  of  the 
real  motives  at  the  bottom,  in  all  the  contentions  between  the 
different  classes  of  society,  and  between  different  localities.  And 
interests  work  subtly  in  existing  feelings  passions  and  false  rea 
sonings.  Animosity  against  the  "owners  of  cheap  labor/'  had 
as  much  to  do  with  the  cry  for  union  and  abolition,  as  sympathy 
for  the  colored  race. 

§  2.  Spencers  Limitations. 

One  of  Mr.  Spencer's  principles  is,  that  all  evil  results  from 
the  non-adaptation  of  constitution  to  circumstances.  Admitting 
this,  yet  we  ask,  who  shall  say  that  education  and  charity  and 


78  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  V. 

religion,  are  not  some  of  the  "circumstances"  which  are  the  con 
ditions  of  man's  happiness  ?  and  who  shall  say  how  much  gov 
ernmental  interference  in  business  or  sociaf  details,  might  also 
be  necessary  to  adapt  him  to  his  "circumstances"  thus  inter 
preted  ? 

Again,  Mr.  Spencer  says,  Every  man  has  freedom  to  do  all 
that  he  wills,  provided  he  infringes  not  the  equal  freedom  of 
any  other  man.  The  principle  is  pretty,  but  we  must  watch  the 
inferences.  The  error  of  the  inferences  as  to  the  do-nothing 
theory,  may  be  shown  by  an  example, — thus,  Virtue  is  a  neces 
sity  and  antecedent  to  social  improvement.  Virtue  consists  of 
three  parts,  namely,  the  outward  action,  the  belief  in  the  reason 
able  utility  thereof,  and  the  moral  internal  will.  Now,  whilst 
government  cannot  reach  the  moral  internal  will,  yet  it  must 
often  touch  the  outward  action,  Why  then,  may  it  not  also  touch 
the  intermediate  thing,  namely,  the  reasonable  utility  of  virtue, 
and  teach  and  encourage  virtuous  "rights,"  as  well  as  encourage 
patent  rights  and  copy  rights,  the  latter  of  which  Mr.  Spencer 
is  strongly  in  favor  of.  Not  forcing  good,  but  encouraging 
good,  is  what  is  asked  for. 

But  again, — we  say  that  Mankind  and  God  have  some  rights 
in  the  matter  of  civil  society,  and  that  therefore,  one  man's  free 
dom  is  not  the  only  limit  to  another  man's  freedom.  But  this 
extensive  subject  must  be  postponed  until  we  consider  the  rela 
tion  of  government  to  religion,  which  will  perhaps  form  part 
of  a  future  wrork. 

Yet  Mr.  Spencer  thinks  that  "the  order  of  nature  without 
law,  should  be  left  to  decide  these  questions."  If  so,  why  may 
not  the  same  order  of  nature  without  law,  be  left  to  carry  on  the 
whole  business  of  government?  "Do  away  with  disturbing  of 
arrangements,"  says  he,  "  and  allow  things  to  take  their  natural 
course,  and  the  best  men  will  EVENTUALLY  draw  to  themselves, 
respectful  obedience."  But  we  answer,  sin  and  ignorance  ARE 
"  DISTURBING  ARRANGEMENTS,"  and  who  shall  say  how  many 
thousands  of  years  yet,  it  shall  be  before  their  disturbing  influ 
ences  shall  be  removed,  and  the  best  men  will  draw  to  them 
selves  -respect?  And  what  is  to  become  of  mankind  with  all 
their  miseries,  in  the  mean  time  ? 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  great  truth  underlying  Mr.  Spencer's 


DOCTRIXES   OF   PROGRESS.  79 

theory; — and  it  must  be  fully  granted  and  kept  distinctly  in 
mind,  that  a  human  government  should  only  interfere  with 
human  liberty,  in  the  proportion  to  which  itself  and  human 
nature,  approach  to  perfection  and  righteousness;  at  least  of 
those  who  control  the  government.  The  restrictions  over  the 
liberty  of  the  citizen,  should  be  only  in  proportion  to  the  per 
fection  of  the  ruling  classes,  individually  and  socially. 

Another  principle  to  be  demonstrated  and  acted  upon  is,  that 
large  and  ample  provision  should  be  made  to  enable  those  per 
sons  who  feel  themselves  aggrieved  by  human  society,  to  sepa 
rate  themselves  from  it,  or,  as  Mr.  Spencer  says,  to  exercise  the 
"  right  to  ignore  the  state,"  yet  in  such  ways  as  that  they  should 
not  endanger  or  disturb  those  who  are  satisfied.  The  necessity 
of  some  resources  for  dissenters  and  theorists  to  escape  the  inter 
ference  of  government,  becomes  all  the  more  necessary  in  our 
system  or  theory,  because  we  advocate  considerable  interference 
by  proper  Precincts  and  Corporations,  in  aifairs  of  education, 
morality,  religion,  &c.,  as  will  appear  in  the  chapters  on  those 
subjects.  The  great  error  of  government  in  all  time,  has  been, 
attempting  to  force  individuals  to  conform  to  its  own  peculiari 
ties,  instead  of  merely  to  prevent  individuals  from  disturbing 
others. 

In  this  connection  appears  one  of  the  great  uses  of  our  small 
Precincts,  also  of  voluntary  communities  and  political  corpora 
tions.  To  such,  special  privileges  might  be  allowed  according 
to  circumstances.  Just  as  the  old  Roman  law  allowed  persons 
of  the  same  various  views  and  feelings,  in  certain  cases,  to  in 
habit  their  own  special  Precincts  and  districts,  and  there  to  ad 
minister  their  own  laws  in  their  own  way.  Either  our  system 
for  Precincts,  or  our  system  for  Corporations,  aifords  all  the  right 
possibilities  for  individuals  to  "  ignore  the  state" :  but  we  cannot 
imagine  any  other  systems  that  would. 

§  3.  Periods  of  human  progress. 

The  elementary  stages  of  human  civilized  society,  must  be 
characterized  by  vast  accumulations  of  facts  and  of  words,  and 
by  great  memories.  In  this  respect  society  must  be  like  the  in 
dividual.  The  infantile  process  of  learning,  is  to  perceive  ideas 
intuitively  or  "  by  guess,"  and  THEREBY  to  learn  the  meaning 
of  words.  But  the  adult  process  of  learning,  when  the  mean- 


80  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  V. 

ings  of  words  are  known,  is  to  learn  ideas  from  words.  In  the 
transitional  age  the  two  methods  are  more  or  less  confused, — 
and  then  the  vivid  memory  of  words  is  of  value,  to  keep  down 
the  infantile  process  of  guessing  the  meaning  too  soon.  Hence, 
in  the  very  early  stages  of  a  progressive  society,  considerable 
attention  to  words  and  MAXIMS  must  be  expected,  and  some 
degree  of  excess  thereof  may  be  overlooked,  as  long  as  its  heart 
is  right,  and  its  desire  to  learn  is  active. 

The  critical  or  metaphysical  stages  of  human  progress,  both 
individual  and  social,  come  next  to  be  considered.  The  critical 
or  metaphysical  period  of  the  individual  mind,  as  also  of  society, 
is  a  necessary  transitional  period  (as  Comte  observes,  but  in  re 
gard  only  to  society  at  large).  It  is  the  period  of  self-criticism, 
— a  period  intervening  between  that  improvement  which  is  pro 
duced  by  other  powers,  and  as  it  were  by  constraint, — and  that 
still  more  subsequent  period,  when  habits  have  become  second 
nature,  and  when  the  involuntariness  of  obedience,  is  not  like  it 
was  in  the  first  stage,  a  mere  instinct  and  ignorant  innocence, — 
but  has  become  in  a  degree  positively  virtuous,  without  being 
distinctly  conscious  that  it  is  virtuous ;  because,  by  reason  of 
confirmation  by  habit,  it  no  longer  needs  deliberate  efforts  of  the 
will,  or  even  self-conscious  struggles  against  a  contrary  induce 
ment. 

The  fourth  stage  is  one  of  confirmed  good  moral  and  intel 
lectual  habits.  It  is  also  to  be  noticed,  that  the  metaphysical 
stage  is  not  possibly  consonant  with  the  highest  or  fullest  efforts 
of  the  human  mind,  individually  or  socially;  because  it  con 
tinually  interrupts  the  thoughts  of  their  objects,  by  intruding 
thoughts  and  feelings  about  the  person  himself,  the  thinker ;  and 
thus  in  an  intellectual  point  of  view,  hinders  concentration. 
Moreover,  the  metaphysical  stage  or  hatit,  whilst  it  lasts,  is 
necessarily  productive  of  pride  and  thus  of  evil.  But  so  far  its 
the  evil  thus  produced  is  necessary,  it  is  not  guilt ;  and  will  in 
time  reach  towards  its  own  cure. 

§  4.  Progressions  to  be  homogeneous. 

Practical  suggestions  for  improvement,  whether  of  the  science 
or  of  society  itself,  should  be  offered  in  series  or  sets.  Each  set 
of  improvements  should  be  worked  or  taught  a  while,  before 
going  on  with  the  next  set.  Each  set  should  include  references 


DOCTRINES   OF   PROGRESS.  81 

to  all  or  most  of  the-  matters  wherein  improvements  are  wanted, 
so  far  as  they  are  apprehended.  As  one  set  of  improvements 
may  be  necessary  to  prepare  for  others,  or  make  them  practi 
cable  ;  just  so,  the  suggestions  of  the  one  set  may  be  necessary 
to  prepare  people's  minds  to  receive  or  judge  of  the  next  set. 
Hence  it  is,  that  in  Social  Science  the  historical  facts  them 
selves,  are  essentially  connected  with  and  must  be  coordinated 
with  the  science  of  them,  in  order  to  make  desirable  progress. 
To  that  end  it  is  necessary,  that  improvements  be  suggested  in 
somewhat  like  the  order  and  proportions  that  society  needs  them. 
And  equally  so,  it  is  impossible  for  the  sociologists  to  foretell 
particular  events  far  ahead,  or  in  general  terms  to  advise  in  ad 
vance,  the  true  methods ;  because  the  sociologist  himself  can  only 
progress  in  his  science  practically,  in  something  like  the  same 
proper  order  and  proportions  that  society  itself  must  follow. 
§  5.  Who  the  coming  leaders  will  be. 

One  of  the  most  general  principles  of  the  social  motion  is, 
that  leaders  will  arise,  and  the  generality  of  men  will  follow 
them.  This  will  be  so,  whether  any  civil  law  exists  or  not.  We 
see  this  in  the  power  of  fashion,  and  in  the  influence  of  example, 
all  this  world  over.  Here  then  we  ask,  what  hope  is  there  of 
good  leaders  arising  to  benefit  society  ?  And  leaders  are  a  very 
different  class  of  persons  from  rulers  or  drivers.  They  are  an 
order  of  spiritual  powers,  like  the  old  religious  powers,  as  to 
morality ;  but  very  different  from  them  in  their  breadth  and 
culture,  both  as  to  ideas  and  as  to  liberality.  Comte  has  some 
good  thoughts  on  this  point. 

The  new  order  of  spiritual  powers  will  be  unlike  the  out 
grown  order  of  the  ecclesiastical,  in  another  respect, — "they 
will  be  humble."  This  consequence  results  from  several  causes, 
but  chiefly  these : — the  progress  of  all  scientific  investigation,  is 
not  one  of  absolute  certainty,  but  avowedly  only  one  of  proba 
bility  and  of  theory.  And  then,  from  this  further  cause,  that 
these  powers  would  obtain  and  maintain  their  influence  and 
supremacy,  not  by  material  forces  nor  by  supernatural  terrors, 
but  by  .educating  the  people,  cultivating  their  faculties,  and  dis 
seminating  truths,  tending  ever  more  and  more  to  bring  the 
people  up  even  with  the  advancing  front  of  the  leaders  them 
selves.  In  other  words,  the  very  method  by  which  Social  Science 

C 


g2  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  VI. 

rules,  is,  by  ever  lessening  the  moral  and  intellectual  distance 
between  its  professors  and  the  public.  Thus  the  new  order  of 
spiritual  powers,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  humble. 

When  Comte  comes  to  the  question,  who  the  new  leaders  will 
be,  or  how  they  will  arise, — he  gives  up  the  problem  as  insolvable. 
But  we  suspect,  that  much  of  what  has  been  said  in  the  first  part 
of  this  Introduction,  can  be  readily  applied  to  this  part,  and 
therefore  need  not  be  recapitulated  here.  Many  of  the  persons 
of  whom  we  have  already  spoken  as  the  helpers  of  Social  Sci 
ence,  are  only  so  indirectly  as  it  were,  or  unintentionally ;  inas 
much  as  the  works  in  which  they  are  directly  and  intentionally 
engaged,  are  frequently  the  improvement  of  society  itself,  rather 
than  of  the  science. 

Furthermore  we  suggest,  perhaps  the  coming  leaders,  like  the 
best  preachers,  will  be  those  who  can  succeed  best  in  inducing 
society  to  hate  its  sins  and  evils  most,  and  to  forsake  them  most 
abidingly.  In  such  work,  not  only  good  spirit  good  talent  and 
virtue  are  necessary,  but  also  a  good  example,  and  a  good  life 
toward  society, — an  abnegation  of  self,  by  devotion  to  Mankind. 
Perhaps  the  great  practical  social  reformers  of  modern  times, 
may  be  indicative  of  something  about  the  origin  of  this  class  of 
the  spiritual  powers;  also  the  founders  of  Roman  Catholic 
houses  in  various  ages,  the  modern  co-operating  capitalists,  and 
aM  earnest  thinkers  and  sympathizers  on  the  great  social  prob 
lems,  who  have  faith  enough  in  their  theories,  to  live  up  to 
them,  and  to  sacrifice  present  self  for  others  and  for  the  future 
self.  In  the  long  range  of  history,  the  lessons  of  failure  become 
almost  as  instructive  as  the  lessons  of  success.  Whenever  the 
generality  of  such  leaders  would  arrive  at  one  general  and  uni 
form  theory,  there  would  arise  a  profoundly  respected  social 
power ;  and  so  in  proportion  as  they  tend  towards  such  a  general 
theory.  At  any  rate,  the  main  impetus  of  their  influence  need 
not  await  until  after  educating  all  the  people  highly,  for  the 
generality  of  people  are  moved  more  by  feeling  or  affection  than 
by  reasoning. 

CHAP.  VI.   THEORY   OF   THE   SIX   UNITS. 

§  1.  In  General. 

We  have  now  come  to  what  we  suppose  to  be  one  of  the  most 
original  and  valuable  parts  of  our  theory,  namely,  that  human 


THEORY   OF   THE   SIX   UNITS.  83 

society  and  therefore  Social  Science,  each  consists  of  six  funda 
mental  elements,  or  Units ;  namely,  Individual,  Family,  Social 
Circle,  Precinct,  Nation,  and  Mankind. 

Both  Aristotle  and  Hegel  seem  to  admit,  with  almost  the 
force  of  our  idea  of  Units,  three  great  ideas,  the  Family,  the 
Precinct  [or  commonwealth]  and  the  Nation, — and  Mulford 
seems  to  regard  them  as  THE  three  "  distinctive"  forms  of  so 
ciety,  (chap.  16),  the  Family  having  "organic,"  and  the  com 
monwealth,  "  formal,"  but  yet  necessary  relation  to  the  Nation. 

Mulford,  however,  does  not  neglect  to  place  the  Individual  in 
some  degree  of  prominence.  Thus,  if  we  may  call  his  first  thir 
teen  and  last  two  chapters,  the  abstract  relations  of  the  Nation, 
then  the  intermediate  chapters  are  the  concrete  relations  of  the 
Nation.  These  (concrete)  are  given  in  the  following  order, — 
Individual,  Family,  Commonwealth,  Confederacy,  Empire.  Ac 
cording  to  Mr.  Mulford  as  we  understand  him,  the  "Nation  is 
the  friend  of  the  first  three,  namely,  Individual,  Family  and 
Commonwealth,"  but  (as  we  understand  him)  the  antagonist  of 
the  other  two.  This  is  coming  very  near  to  the  doctrine  of 
fundamental  elements  or  units ;  nevertheless,  the  idea  does  not 
seem  to  have  suggested  itself  to  him.  On  the  contrary,  p.  276, 
he  says  explicitly,  "  The  Family  is  not  the  unit  of  society," — 
and  nothing  but  the  Nation  has  his  high  term  "  moral  person 
ality,"  which  is  his  equivalent  for  our  term  Unit. 

Others  also,  have  singled  out  Family,  Church  and  State 
merely,  as  the  great  divisions  of  Social  Science,  with  such  pre 
eminence  as  shows  they  unconsciously  regarded  them  as  tanta 
mount  to  our  idea  of  the  Units,  yet  without  connecting  these 
divisions  by  any  general  theory,  or  by  the  relation  of  fun 
damental  elements.  But  church  is  a  corporation  and  not  a 
natural  person,  and  State  is  only  an  abstract  term  for  the 
Science. 

But  not  only  the  Individual  and  the  Nation  are  natural  per 
sons,  but  every  one  of  the  essential  elements  of  our  analytics 
is  a  natural  person,  namely,  Individual,  Family,  Social  Circle, 
Precinct,  Nation,  and  Mankind. 

On  the  contrary,  the  assumption  by  a  Nation,  that  it  is  the 
source  or  origin  of  all  political  power,  is  high  presumption  be 
fore  Heaven,  and  a  usurpation  of  the  rights  of  the  Almighty 


84  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  VI. 

and  Divine  Creator.  And  this  is  so,  whether  the  presumptuous 
government  is  of  Belshazzar  or  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  or  of  a  de 
mocracy. 

Of  one  thing  we  may  be  sure ;  government,  to  be  permanent, 
must  be  homogeneous  in  its  essential  elements.  If  Precincts  were 
only  recognizable  as  artificial  persons  or  corporations,  then  there 
could  be  no  permanent  peace  and  order  in  society,  until  the  Na 
tion  itself  were  recognized  as  only  a  corporation.  So,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Nation,  as  a  local  organism  distinct  from  cor 
poration,  can  never  be  satisfactorily  dispensed  with,  unless  all 
the  under  or  local  departments,  namely,  the  Precincts,  can  also 
be  dispensed  with.  This  would  mean,  a  people  joined  together 
as  a  grand  corporation  instead  of  as  a  Nation,  and  consisting 
exclusively  of  sub-corporations,  abstract  from  locality, — a  con 
ception  too  indefinite  and  too  general  to  be  judged  of,  without 
further  experience  in  the  parts  of  the  system  separately.  And 
again  on  the  other  hand,  a  Nation  can  never  enjoy  its  full  rights 
as  a  God-given  "  moral  personality,"  only  as  it  recognizes  the 
moral  personality  of  the  Precinct  also.  The  law  of  personality 
is,  as  Mulford  says,  "  be  a  person  and  respect  other  persons" ;  and 
we  add, — respect  them,  however  small  or  humble  they  may  be. 
§  2.  Origin  of  this  Theory. 

It  may  be  appropriate  here,  to  state  simply  how  our  theory 
of  the  Units  originated.  The  Units,  (or  most  of  them)  were 
arranged  as  the  best  possible  division  of  the  subject  we  could 
devise,  merely  as  divisions  of  the  study,  before  their  functions  as 
units  were  clearly  conceived.  And  here  arises  one  strong  argu 
ment  for  this  number  and  classification  of  the  units,  namely, 
that  the  arrangement  is  necessary,  in  order  to  classify  the  mate 
rials  of  Social  Science. 

But  our  theory  not  only  makes  our  divisions  logical  or  sub 
jective  divisions  of  the  science,  but  also  fundamental  elements 
of  society  itself. 

Comte  had  stated  that  the  Family  is  the  true  unit  of  society, 
— and  not  the  Individual.  This  struck  us  at  once,  as  a  favor 
able  idea.  But  when  we  reflected,  as  Paley  says,  that  all  that 
nations  and  societies  suffer  or  enjoy,  is  not  felt  in  the  bulk,  but 
only  in  the  Individuals,  we  perceived  that  the  Individual  cannot 
be  given  up  as  a  unit ;  hence,  then,  we  have  at  least  t.wo  units, 


THEORY  OF   THE   SIX   UNITS.  35 

namely,  the  Individual  and  the  Family.  And  when  once  the 
fact,  that  there  must  be  a  PLURALITY  OF  UNITS,  was  assumed, 
and  what  the  first  two  are,  the  way  was  opened  to  reach  the  true 
and  full  number  of  them.  Nation  and  Mankind  soon  occurred, 
as  two  other  units  at  the  other  extreme.  Then  the  rights  of 
States  or  minor  localities,  and  of  voluntary  corporations,  had  to 
be  placed  somewhere  between  the  extremes  already  ascertained. 
This  problem  was  insoluble,  except  by  a  theory  of  the  Tribe 
which  should  make  the  principle  or  spirit  of  Tribe  survive  in 
modern  society,  under  differentiated  forms,  namely  as  Social 
Circle  and  Precinct,  as  natural  unalterable  elements,  and  Cor 
poration  as  an  artificial  element  and  therefore  as  a  distinct  genus 
from  all  the  six  previously  obtained,  not  itself  a  unit  but  a  type 
of  a  unit.  See  CORPORATION,  for  a  fuller  account. 
§  3.  Some  Singular  Sixes. 

We  present  here  a  few  classifications  of  nature,  by  sixes,  which 
by  analogy  tend  to  show  that  we  have  hit  upon  and  discovered 
the  right  number  of,  and  the  right  particular  units,  of  which 
society  really  and  virtually  is  composed.  Most  of  these  classi 
fications  presently  to  follow,  are  numbered  so  that  all  the  I7s  may 
be  compared  together,  and  all  the  2's,  and  so  on.  And  we  hope 
none  of  these  our  analogies,  will  be  thought  to  be  any  wilder 
than  some  of  Fourier,  or  Comte  or  Hobbes  or  others  who  have 
labored  in  this  department  of  imaginary  thought. 

The  figure  which  gives  the  maximum  amount  of  internal 
content,  with  the  minimum  amount  of  external  surface  of  sim 
ilar  bodies  joined  together,  is  a  HEXAGON  ;  as,  for  instance,  the 
cells  of  the  bee. 

In  developed  civilization,  there  are  six  great  classes  of  society. 
They  help  in  forming  Social  Circles,  and  they  give  the  bases  of 
limits  of,  and  highest  moral  shares  of  property,  in  distribution. 
These  will  be  portrayed  in  another  book. 

The  errors  and  vices  of  Mankind^  have  instinctively  and 
spontaneously  alighted  on  our  six  units,  as  the  fundamental 
motors  of  human  passions.  Nearly  all  the  "  respectable"  crimes 
and  great  enormities,  are  committed  for  the  sake  of,  and  under 
the  perverted  infatuation  of,  one  or  the  other  of  these  ideas  that 
we  have  singled  out  and  generalized  under  the  name  of  units  of 
society;  namely,  either  for  the  rights  of  (1)  the  Individual,  or 


86 


BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  VI. 


of  (2)  the  Family,  or  of  (3)  Social  Circle,  class,  and  clan,  or  of 
(4)  one's  own  Precinct  or  Neighborhood,  or  (5)  of  Nationality, 
or  for  (6)  the  welfare  of  Mankind,  including  under  Mankind, 
as  we  do,  religious  action  in  society,  which  plants  itself  on  that 
wide  human  ground,  for  the  justification  of  social  compulsion 
and  religious  persecution. 

Roget  classifies  his  "  Thesaurus  of  English  Words"  into  six 
Main  Divisions,  thus,  Abstract  Relations,  Space,  Matter,  Intel 
lect,  Volitions,  Affections. 

Ballou  (in  Practical  Christian  Socialism,  p.  108)  has  six  in 
finities  ;  namely,  the  Deific  spirit,  the  soul-spirit,  matter,  space, 
duration,  diversity. 

Paley's  Divisions  of  Moral  and  Political  Philosophy,  are  the 
following : — 

1  Preliminary   Considerations. 

2  Moral    Obligations.      Origin    of,   &c. 

3  Relative   Duties   of  Persons   and   Property. 

4  Duties   towards   Ourselves. 

5  Duties   towards   God. 

6  Elements   of  Political   Knowledge. 

Spencer's  lines  of  progress,  are  readily  made  into  six,  thus: — 
1  Advance   from    Qualitative   to   Quantitative. 
•2  Advance   from   Concrete   to   Abstract. 

3  Application    of  abstract   to   new   orders   of  concrete. 

4  Simultaneous   advance   in    generalization   and   specialization. 

5  Increasing   subdivision    and   re-union. 

6  Constantly   improving   Consensus. 


Our  classification  of  the  sciences : — 

1  Perceptible   Mechanical   Powers. 

2  Imperceptible   Mechanical   Powers. 

3  Imponderable   Powers. 

4  Animal   Powers. 

5  Human   Transcendental    Powers. 

6  Supernatural   Powers. 


Our  Units. 
1  Individual 

Systems  of 
Crystallization. 
1  Monometric 

Astronomical 
1  Satellites 

2  Family 
3  Social  Circle 

2  Dimetric 
3  Trimetric 

2  Planets 
3  Suns 

4  Precinct 
5  Nation 

4  Monoclinic 
5  Triclinic 

4  Groups 
5  Clusters 

6  Mankind 

6  Hexagonal 

6  Nebulse 

Systems. 


THEORY   OF   THE   SIX   UNITS. 


87 


Organs  of  sense. 

1  Sensation 

2  Temperature 

3  Taste 

4  Smell 

5  Hearing 

6  Sight 

Spencers 
Universal  Data. 

1  Force 

2  Motion 

3  Matter 

4  Time 

5  Space 

6  Unknowable  Power 


Suggestions  from 
Okeris  Classification. 

1  Living  Nature 

2  Creations  of  Elements 

3  Functions  of  Elements 

4  Cosmogony 

5  Material  Totalities 

6  Immaterial  Totalities 


Religious  Society. 

1  Adam 

2  Adam  and  Eve 

3  Patriarchy 

4  Israel  in  Egypt 

5  Israel  in  Palestine 

6  Christian  Church 

Mental  States. 

1  Physical  Emotion 

2  Conception 

3  Idea 

4  Thought 

5  Metaphysical  Emo 

tion 

6  Will 


Plato"1  s  Sciences. 

1  Arithmetic 

2  Geometry.  Plane 

3  Geom.  three  dimen. 

4  Astronomy  and  Mo 

tion 

5  Harmonics 

6  Real  Existence 


Mental  Faculties. 

1  Consciousness     Ex 

ternal 

2  Consciousness     In 

ternal 

3  Association   of  Re 

semblance 

4  Association  of  Con 

trast 

5  Abstraction 

6  Generalization 


Comtds  Classification 
of  the  Sciences. 

1  Mathematics 

2  Astronomy 

3  Physics 

4  Chemistry 

5  Physiology 

6  Sociology 


Hegel's 
Classification. 

1  Logic 

2  Mechanics 

3  Physics 

4  Organic  Physiology 

5  Psychology 

6  [The  Idea]  ? 

§  4.   Combinations  of  the  Six  Units. 

(a)  Combinations  in  Concatenation.  Each  personal  unit  of 
society,  contains  a  subdivision  or  principle  which  points  to,  or 
connects  with,  the  unit  next  above  it.  The  Individual  has 
sexual  functions,  and  these  point  to  the  Family.  The  Family 
has  grand-parents,  and  gives  out  brethren  and  sisters  to  make 
new  friendly  Families, — these  give  rise  to  Social  Circles.  And 
these  seek  to  reside  in  near  neighborhood,  and  thus  become  Pre 
cinct.  And  these  again,  multiplying,  constitute  Nation. 

In  the  development  of  society,  society  comes  to  self-conscious 
ness  and  to  the  understanding  of  itself,  only  by  means  of  the 
light  which  each  one  unit  throws  upon  the  character  of  the 
others.  By  spiritualizing  Goethe's  great  saying,  that  man  knows 
himself  only  as  he  knows  external  nature,  we  will  readily  see 
how,  in  the  origin  of  human  society,  the  individual  man  or 


38  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  VI. 

woman  only  knows  himself  or  herself,  after  organizing  into  the 
Family  relation.  And  likewise,  one  Family  alone  does  not  (or 
would  not)  know  itself,  only  by  becoming  a  Social  Circle  or  a 
tribe,  viz.,  only  after  several  Families  had  come  to  exist  in  the 
same  neighborhood,  and  thus  spontaneously  to  have  formed  a 
tribe — So  likewise,  the  tribe  could  not  understand  itself  fully 
nor  be  really  developed,  only  by  coming  into  relation  with  sev 
eral  tribes,  that  is,  by  becoming  part  of  a  Nation ;  or,  the  one 
tribe  growing  and  dividing  into  several  tribes.  So  likewise,  the 
Nation  cannot  understand  its  true  functions,  only  by  realizing 
its  position  as  a  part  of  the  great  Family,  Mankind. 

And  now,  in  the  advanced  stages  of  society,  when  new  organs 
are  put  forth,  and  new  settlements  and  new  developments  resolve 
the  tribe  into  two  distinct  branches, — one,  the  preferred  acquaint 
ance  (namely,  the  Social  Circle) — and  the  other,  the  Precinct  of 
nearest  or  lowest  degree  of  local  government,  we  must  reduce 
.our  argument  to  adapt  it  to  modern  conditions,  and  then  say 
thus : — The  Individual  knows  himself  only  by  coming  to  the 
Family;  and  both  Individual  and  Family  know  themselves 
only  by  coming  both  into  the  Social  Circle,  or  into  the  local 
organization  or  Precinct ;  and  all  these  again,  comprehend  them 
selves  only  by  their  relations  with  the  Nation;  and  it  again, 
can  comprehend  itself  only  by  means  of  its  relations  to  Man 
kind. 

Furthermore,  as  Nation  and  Precinct,  Social  Circle  and 
Family,  are  all  Individual  human  beings,  these  general  princi 
ples  will  hold  when  applied  beginning  with  the  Nation  and 
going  downwards.  Any  organization  of  men  can  understand 
itself  only  by  understanding  and  appreciating  the  elements  of 
which  it  is  composed,  and  with  which  it  most  constantly  comes 
into  relationship  and  contact.  So  then,  the  Nation  can  under 
stand  itself  only  by  appreciating  Precinct,  Social  Circle,  and 
Individual.  So  also,  the  Precinct  can  only  understand  itself, 
by  appreciating  all  the  units  below  it ;  and  so  on  for  the  rest. 
Thus  it  is,  that  the  very  principle  which  runs  through  the  de 
velopment  of  all  human  society,  has  only  to  be  viewed  from  the 
opposite  side,  to  be  seen  to  confirm  the  great  doctrine  of  the 
right  of  some  government  influence  being  vested  in  all  the  units 
of  society  severally. 


THEORY    OF   THE   SIX   UNITS.  gy 

(6)  Combinations  in  Solution.  We  now  come  to  combinations 
of  a  more  complex  and  versatile  kind. 

In  the  development  of  Society,  society  combines  its  elements 
variously ;  hence  we  observe  that  three  of  them,  namely,  Pre 
cinct,  Nation,  and  Mankind,  involve  the  idea  of  locality  and 
are  dependent  upon  the  location,  and  so  might  be  called  the  local 
units  or  units  of  locality.  But  the  other  three  units  are  entirely 
independent  of  the  idea  of  locality,  and  are  purely  personal, 
namely,  the  Individual,  the  Family,  and  the  Social  Circle. 

Again  we  observe,  that  these  six  naturally  divide  themselves 
into  three  pairs,  in  each  of  which  pair,  one  unit  is  a  part  and 
the  other  a  whole,  namely,  Individual  and  Family,  Precinct  and 
Nation,  Social  Circle  and  Mankind.  Furthermore,  in  each  of 
these  pairs,  one  unit  is  related  to  the  other,  not  only  as  part  to 
whole,  but  the  relationships  are  evidently  much  alike  in  several 
metaphysical  and  moral  respects,  one  pair  being  personal,  one 
political,  and  one,  moral  or  voluntary. 

And  then  again,  we  have  three  pairs  by  a  different  combina 
tion,  such  that  the  two  of  each  pair  are  connected  closely 
together  by  metaphysical  and  moral  relations  and  considera 
tions  ;  thus,  one  pair  consists  of  Individual  and  Mankind. 
Another  pair  is  of  Family  and  Nation.  And  the  third  pair  is 
of  Social  Circle  and  Precinct. 

We  observe  also  three  dualities.  First,  the  whole  six  are 
divided  into  two  threes ;  next,  the  whole  six  are  divided  into 
three  twos;  and  third,  the  division  "itself  of  these  two  views  is 
the  third  duality. 

(c)  Analogy  in   Chemistry.     All  the  elements  of  chemistry 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  and  in  three  different  methods. 
One,  is  into  Metals  and  Metalloids,  another,  is  into  Acids  and 
Alkalies,  and  the  third  is  into  Electro-negative  and  Electro 
positive.     We  have  here  as  much  of  the  divisions  of  our  six 
units,  as  could  be  expected  to  survive  under  chemical  analysis, 
under  which  NO  LIFE  can  continue.     Here  in  chemistry  we 
have,  not  three  pairs  of  classes  making  six  classes,  but  only 
three  WAYS  of  pairing  classes. 

(d)  Analogy  in  Geography.     Here  is  another  class  of  natural 
analogies  of  our  six  units,  found  in  the  relations  of  the  six  great 
geographical  divisions  of  the  world,  called  continents.     In  the 


90  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  VI. 

northern  hemisphere  we  have  three  continents,  namely,  North 
America,  Europe  and  Asia.  And  then  we  have  three  southern 
continents,  South  America,  Africa  and  Australia.  Then  in 
another  view,  we  have  them  in  pairs  thus,  North  America  and 
South  America,  Europe  and  Africa,  Asia  and  Australia.  Thus 
much  Steffens  and  Guyot  have  observed ;  but  we  add  some  other 
twos  and  threes.  Thus,  as  to  the  shape — three  of  them  (North 
and  South  America  and  Africa)  are  shaped  like  "legs  of 
mutton" ;  and  the  other  three  of  them  (Europe,  Asia,  and  Aus 
tralia)  are  nearly  like  irregular  oblongs  or  trapezoids.  Again, 
viewing  them  in  pairs,  one  pair,  Europe  and  Asia,  are  joined 
together  arm  in  arm  or  side  and  side,  by  a  range  of  mountains. 
Another  pair,  North  America  and  South  America,  are  joined 
together  by  a  long  narrow  isthmus.  And  the  third  pair,  namely, 
Africa  and  Australia,  are  alike  only  in  being  unlike  the  others 
in  that  respect;  just  as  Individual  and  Mankind  are  unlike 
each  other,  and  unlike  all  the  rest  of  the  units, — for  Africa  is 
joined,  not  to  the  continent  immediately  north  of  it  but  to  the 
one  on  the  east,  and  not  by  an  isthmus  so  much  as  by  a  broad 
flat  territory,  and  by  a  long  narrow  sea :  whilst  Australia  is 
unlike  the  others,  by  being  solitary.  Then,  leaving  Australia 
out  of  the  question  as  solitary,  and  corresponding  to  the  Indi 
vidual  (as  was  done  by  former  geographers,)  we  have  all  the 
rest  of  the  earth  divided  into  two  parts  called  the  old  World 
and  the  new  World,  having  the  very  peculiar  contrast,  as  the 
geographers  have  remarked,  that  the  new  World  is  long  and 
narrow,  and  has  its  greatest  length  running  north  and  south ; 
and  the  old  World,  although  much  larger  in  one  direction  than 
the  other,  yet  cannot  be  called  narrow,  and  has  its  greatest  length 
east  and  west.  The  old  World  has  its  long  slopes  and  plateaus 
towards  the  north,  and  the  new  World  has  its  long  slopes  towards 
the  east. 

And  now,  if  we  count  the  Individual,  as  the  solitary  one  corre 
sponding  to  Australia,  we  have  five  other  units.  Three  in  the 
old  World,  namely,  Family,  Social  Circle  and  Precinct,  and  two 
in  the  new  World,  namely,  Nation  and  Mankind. 

Again,  observe  another  analogy  of  peculiarities,  a  solitary  one 
at  each  end  of  the  six ;  and  two  closely  connected  pairs  between 
them.  Individual  and  Mankind  are  two  extremes,  which  in  a 


BALANCES   OF   THE   SIX   UNITS.  91 

certain  sense  are  different  from  society;  one  is  a  no  society,  and 
the  other  is  an  ideal  that  is  never  completed.  But  the  other 
four  make  two  pairs  closely  connected,  namely,  Family  con 
nected  with  Social  Circle,  and  Precinct  connected  with  Nation. 

Now,  let  us  observe  this  geographical  analogy,  in  mere  figures, 
expressing  the  ratio  of  coast  lines  to  each  1000  square  miles  of 
continent;  and  on  the  proportion  of  which,  intercourse  and 
civilization  so  much  depend.  (See  Mankind.)  The  figures 
stand  thus,  6f ;  4,  3J;  2f,  2J;  If.  Europe's  figure  is  6f,  and 
Africa's  If.  But,  between  these,  there  are  two  pairs,  whose 
figures  come  pretty  nearly  together.  Thus,  one  pair  is  North 
America  4,  and  Australia  3J :  the  other  pair  is  South  America 
2|,  Asia  2J. 

The  foregoing  analogies  of  course,  are  only  to  show  in  a  cumu 
lative  way,  a  probability  of  our  six  as  an  important  number  of  a 
true  classification  in  social  science. 

CHAP.  VII.    BALANCES   OF  THE  SIX   UNITS. 

§  1.  In  General. 

We  have  now  come  to  express  formally  that  part  of  our 
theory,  which  is  the  doctrine  of  the  necessity  of  the  perpetual 
balance  of  the  units,  in  order  to  make  a  happy  people,  or  a 
good  and  righteous  government.  What  we  mean,  is  no  Pan 
theistic  or  development-idea,  that  these  units  WILL  ultimately 
balance  each  other.  But  we  mean,  that  the  duty  of  society  is  to 
make  the  balance,  and  to  give  to  each  unit  its  due  proportion  of 
influence ;  and  that,  only  in  proportion  as  society  does  this,  can 
it  produce  either  a  happy  people,  or  a  good  government. 

The  necessity  for  preserving  this  balance,  might  be  legiti 
mately  inferred  from  their  nature  as  units ;  so  that  the  estab 
lishment  of  the  theory  in  general,  of  the  units,  involves  in  it 
the  necessity  or  duty  of  their  balance.  This  necessity  and  duty 
may  also  be  inferred  from  their  combinations.  For,  in  all  the 
departments  of  nature,  we  cannot  have  substances  composed  of 
elements,  only  when  these  elements  are  in  their  due  proportions 
to  each  other,  and  also  are  existing  in  the  necessary  contiguity. 
Unless  the  parts  are  real,  the  whole  cannot  be  real. 

But  these,  as  positions  are  very  abstract;  and  as  it  is  very 
important  to  establish  this  doctrine  of  the  balance  of  the  units, 


92  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  VII. 

upon  clear  and  well-known  grounds,  we  desire  the  reader's  at 
tention  to  a  few  direct  arguments  and  illustrations  on  this  point. 
And  to  the  elucidation  of  which,  we  propose  to  devote  most  of 
the  remainder  of  th's  Introduction. 

§  2.  Individual  and  Family  as  Types. 

If  our  type  theory  (already  illustrated)  is  as  good  as  we  sup 
pose  it  to  be,  it  ought  to  help  us  to  solve  the  still  more  difficult 
theory  of  the  balance  of  the  units.  And  the  analogies  are  at 
hand.  Just  as  the  heart  the  lungs  the  stomach  and  the  brain, 
are  each  a  vital  organ,  and  act  each  independent  of  the  others ; 
yet  life  and  health  absolutely  depend  on  the  free  action  of  each 
exerting  its  own  due  balancing  power,  so  it  is  with  the  elements 
of  society.  So  again,  for  another  illustration,  to  refer  to  the 
Family  as  type  of  society,  the  masculine  and  feminine  elements 
must  co-exist  in  harmony  in  their  mutual  work,  and  yet,  each 
must  maintain  its  own  individuality,  in  a  due  balance. 
§  3.  Resemblances  to  Gravitation. 

The  power  of  association  it  is  true,  draws  men  together  like 
the  law  of  gravitation,  with  a  force  in  proportion  to  their  num 
bers  or  mass,  and  in  inverse  proportion  to  their  distances.  But 
this  law,  when  transferred  from  inanimate  matter  and  applied 
to  humanity  or  to  living  beings,  requires  several  modifications. 
And  even  among  the  astronomical  bodies,  there  is  a  centrifugal 
power  always  exactly  equal  to  the  centripetal. 

If  we  turn  to  the  sidereal  systems  for  illustrations,  then  Na 
tions  will  answer  to  solar  systems,  prettily  and  truly.  Planets 
will  revolve  around  suns,  moons  and  satellites  around  planets, 
and  so  on ;  each  in  its  own  orbit,  and  doing  its  own  work ;  and 
each  kept  from  centrifugal  disorder,  by  the  attracting  power  of 
its  own  immediate  center,  namely,  tho  next  highest  orb  in  the 
generalizations.  But  still,  it  is  in  vain  to  look  for  exact  analo 
gies  of  life-processes,  in  the  laws  or  actions  of  inanimate  matter. 
Saturn's  ring  may  illustrate  the  relations  of  Families  to  a  tribe ; 
but  we  have  no  binary  systems  in  our  solar  system, — nothing  to 
illustrate  the  Family  organization  in  the  relation  of  male  and 
female.  Although  in  the  binary  systems  of  far  distant  stars, 
the  suns  of  other  systems,  we  have  the  beautiful  arrangement  of 
two  companion  stars  revolving  around  each  other,  or  rather,  re 
volving  around  an  ideal  center,  the  ideal  point  of  their  mutual 


BALANCES   OF   THE   SIX   UNITS.  93 

attraction ;  and  each  being  of  the  color  needed  to  complement 
the  other  in  the  spectrum.  And  in  some  cases,  there  appear  to 
be  more  than  two,  sometimes  even  several  suns,  occupying  these 
relations  to  each  other.  But  not  in  the  simple  organic  matters 
substances  or  minerals,  do  we  find  any  trace  of  male  and.  female, 
other  than  electricity.  It  is  only  where  we  enter  into  the  living 
world,  vegetable  as  well  as  animal,  that  we  find  sex  running 
throughout  all  or  nearly  all  life ;  but  we  find  the  Family  or 
ganization,  only  in  a  few  of  the  very  highest  animals. 

Now,  let  us  remember  that  in  the  natural  formation  of  society, 
after  the  formation  of  Families  and  tribes,  the  centripetal  and 
centrifugal  forces  are  not  exerted  and  felt,  so  directly  between 
the  Individuals  as  between  the  Families,  or  the  tribes.  Nations 
are  formed  originally  and  in  all  history,  not  by  Individuals  but 
by  Families  and  tribes.  Thus,  even  the  centripetal  force  itself 
is  not  so  much  directly  between  Individuals,  as  it  is  directly 
between  Families  and  tribes.  And  the  sun  over  our  heads  does 
not  draw  us  away  from  the  earth,  but  draws  us  along  with  it. 

Where  the  two  forces  of  human  society,  the  centripetal  and 
the  centrifugal,  are  most  perfectly  and  independently  balanced 
in"  all  their  forms, — where  the  national,  the  neighborhood,  the 
Family,  and  the  Individual,  all  have  the  powers  of  each  in  the 
best  balance^ — there  will  be  the  most  rapid  and  true  prosperity. 
And  this  is  brought  about  in  accordance  with  one  of  the  laws 
which  Mr.  Carey  has  announced  in  only  one  of  its  relations, 
namely,  in  the  relation  of  city  state  and  Nation,  rather  than  to 
its  full  extent.  This  law  might  and  should  be  enlarged,  as  I 
have  enlarged  it,  to  the  other  units.  That  law  thus  enlarged  is, 
that  in  proportion  as  this  balance  of  all  the  parts  is  preserved, 
the  rapidity  of  human  diversity  or  individuality  is  promoted ; 
and  in  proportion  to  that  individuality,  will  be  the  feeling  and 
consciousness  of  human  responsibility  intellectual  and  moral; 
and  in  proportion  to  the  responsibility  both  intellectual  and 
moral,  will  be  the  activity  and  morality ;  and  in  proportion  "to 
the  activity  and  morality  in  such  a  condition  of  balanced  free 
dom  and  order,  will  be  the  universal  prosperity. 

§  4.  Resemblances  to  Chemical  affinity. 

But  the  relation  of  persons  in  small  districts,  is  much  better 
illustrated  by  the  powers  and  laws  of  chemical  affinity.  Here 


94  BK.  I.      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  VII. 

we  see  that  the  attraction  between  molecules  or  Individuals  when 
placed  very  near  together,  becomes  an  entirely  different  power 
from  gravitation,  as  far  as  we  can  yet  perceive ;  and  one  that 
exceeds  it  beyond  all  possibility  of  comparison.  So  that  al 
though  all  bodies  undergoing  chemical  changes,  are  also  subject 
to  gravitation,  yet  we  cannot  perceive  that  the  chemical  changes 
themselves  are  at  all  affected  by  gravitation.  Here  we  have 
illustrated  the  absolute  independence  of  neighborhoods  within 
Nations. 

This  principle  of  elective  affinity  illustrates  another  feature, 
both  of  man  and  of  society,  or  of  close  neighbors  to  each  other, 
whether  in  space  or  in  relationship ;  and  this  is,  that  molecules 
or  Individuals  can  unite  with  each  other,  only  within  certain 
definite  specified  and  limited  proportions.  So  it  is  with  Indi 
viduals  ;  each  one  has  his  own  peculiar  character  and  his  own 
proper  rights,  such  that  other  Individuals  cannot  understand  him 
nor  his  true  character  or  responsibilities,  beyond  certain  degrees. 
And  these  degrees  may  vary  in  different  subjects,  so  that  any  two 
persons  may  have  more  and  closer  affinities  on  some  subjects 
than  on  others.  Here  we  have  illustrated  the  eternal  rights  of 
Individuals,  in  the  recesses  of  their  own  hearts,  and  to  their  own 
hearts'  secrets,  as  well  as  to  combinations  and  sympathy  with 
other  persons. 

As  Comte  well  observes,  the  attempt  or  even  the  hope,  to 
reduce  all  the  operations  and  laws  of  nature,  to  one  law,  is  and 
will  be  a  vain  attempt.  And  the  fact  is,  that  the  laws  and  powers 
which  attract  men  into  Nations,  are  not  the  same  as  far  as  we  can 
analyze,  as  those  which  cause  them  to  seek  the  society  of  and 
organization  with  their  immediate  neighbors.  The  one  is  gravi 
tation,  the  other  is  affinity.  And  hence,  the  national  principle 
and  the  neighbor  principle,  are  much  better  illustrated  by  what 
are  recognized  to  be  two  entirely  different  natural  powers,  and  to 
be  working  by  entirely  different  laws. 

One  obvious  inference  from  this  view  is,  the  evident  and 
much  greater  importance  of  the  neighbor-attraction,  than  of  the 
nation  alone,  in  itself  considered  as  the  ultimate  object  sought, 
the  end  of  the  means ;  and  including  in  the>  term  neighbor,  not 
only  Precinct,  but  also  social  acquaintance  and  business  circle 
or  chartered  company. 


BALANCES   OF   THE   SIX   UNITS.  95 

By  reference  to  Mr.  Carey's  law  regarding  the  balance  of 
centralization  and  decentralization,  it  will  be  observed,  that  all 
turns  upon  t  individuality  and  personal  responsibility,  that  the 
national  power  itself  is  useful,  only  as  it  develops  or  allows 
the  development  of  these.  Whereas,  the  chemical  affinities  are 
the  immediate  and  direct  operation  of  these  individualities 
themselves. 

§  5.  Natural  History  of  Society. 

One  element  of  the  centrifugal  force  of  society,  is  the  innate 
feeling  of  human  liberty,  and  the  necessity  in  order  to  happi 
ness,  for  each  individual  to  follow  his  own  bent  or  inclination. 
The  more  condensed  society  becomes,  and  the  more  varieties 
of  occupation  study  and  training  are  introduced,  the  more  dif 
ferent  the  various  persons7  bents  or  inclinations  become,  and  the 
more  absolutely  essential  for  each  one's  happiness,  becomes  his 
right  to  have  great  liberty  in  those  respects.  And  the  same 
holds  true  both  for  Individuals  and  for  Families.  And  thus 
the  centrifugal  forces  become  electrical  repulsion,  nay  more,  they 
become  biological  and  medical,  and  instead  of  centrifugal  forces 
we  have  incompatible  characters. 

Another  law  is  the  attraction  of  the  sexes.  Here  we  have  an 
attraction,  often  not  in  inverse  but  in  direct  proportion  to  dis 
tances,  and  according  to  the  great  differences  and  co-ordinating 
needs  of  each  sex  for  the  other.  Distances,  in  space  or  in  social 
position,  are  little  in  comparison  with  the  power  of  this  great 
attraction.  Then  again,  when  this  attraction  becomes  chemical, 
and  finds  its  combination  and  fulfills  it  with  the  rising  Family, 
it  forms  the  very  strongest  tie  and  gives  the  very  strongest  com 
bination  in  human  society.  Now,  it  is  here  too,  that  there  arises 
the  very  strongest  centrifugal  and  repulsive  force.  Each  Family 
tends  to  repel  every  other  Family.  This  is  chiefly  the  result  of 
the  antipathy  or  dread,  of  men  for  men,  or  women  for  women, 
in  regard  to  those  of  the  other  Families. 

This  centrifugal  tendency  also  results,  from  the  autocratic  in 
fluence  which  parents  naturally  desire  to  exercise  upon  their  own 
children,  and  from  their  dread  of  or  opposition  to  the  influence 
of  other  Families  on  their  children. 

Out  of  the  necessities  of  Families,  there  soon  arise  Social 
Circles  Precincts  and  Corporations ;  the  consideration  of  which 


96  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  VII. 

is  deferred  a  few  pages,  namely,  until  we  come  to  the  subject 
headed  "  The  Tribe  Principle."     (Chap.  VIII.) 

Oftentimes  in  history,  conquests  have  been  useful  in  causing 
tribes  or  Precincts  that  were  previously  at  war  and  entirely 
under  centrifugal  influences,  to  submit  to  a  centralizing  attrac 
tion.  But  no  such  centralizing  force  as  is  compulsory,  can  be 
justified,  until  after  tribes  Precincts  or  Nations  placed  in  juxta 
position  by  providential  circumstances,  refuse  to  enter  peaceably 
into  such  confederation  as  is  necessary  for  peace  and  order,  re 
fuse  to  conform  to  +he  centripetal  attractions  required  by  cir 
cumstances.  Then,  the  arising  of  the  strongest  tribe  or  of  some 
foreign  power,  as  a  centripetal  power,  seems  justified  by  the  ne 
cessities  of  the  case,  and  by  the  interests  of  Mankind. 

An  overwhelming  tendency  to  centralization  seems  now  to 
exist  all  over  the  civilized  world,  except  temporarily  in  the 
Southern  states,  where  the  decentralizing  movement  wras  made 
evidently  for  a  special  and  exceptional  purpose,  namely,  of  form 
ing  a  new  center  of  despotism  over  a  part  of  its  own  people ;  and 
was  not  a  movement  made  upon  any  well  founded  principle  of 
decentralization.  Its  theories  of  Precinct  rights  were  held  good 
only  for  the  white  man's,  not  for  the  negro's  Precincts.  And  its 
theories  of  state  rights  were  only  held  to  be  good  against  the  old 
government,  and  not  against  the  new.  Its  power  against  its  own 
parts,  was  far  more  threatening,  than  that  of  Great  Britain  to 
wards  the  American  colonies  in  the  Revolution.  Its  people  had 
forgotten  about  ninety  years  of  history.  They  had  forgotten  that 
the  early  colonists  mostly  had  been  driven  to  a  new  country  by 
persecution  or  distress.  Whereas  the  settlers  in  the  Southern 
states  had  been  invited  and  encouraged  and  aided  by  the  general 
government,  in  every  way,  and  fostered  to  become  great  and 
prosperous  states. 

The  advent  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  there 
fore,  was  a  return  to  the  original  and  natural  balance  of  society. 
It  speaks  of  "  We,  the  people,"  as  well  as  states ;  and  thus  ac 
knowledges  a  double  power  in  its'  very  inception, — the  people 
the  Nation  as  a  whole,  forming  the  centripetal  force ;  and  the 
former  tribes  or  colonies,  now  states,  forming  the  independent 
or  centrifugal  powers. 

One  of  the  great  practical  problems  in  Social  Science,  is  to 


THE   TRIBE   PRINCIPLE.  97 

determine  how  much  Individual  and  Family  liberty,  each  ought 
to  resign  and  assign  to  the  governing  powers,  and  especially  to 
the  tribe,  or  district  or  company.  Another  of  the  great  practi 
cal  problems  in  this  relation  of  centrifugal  to  centripetal  forces, 
is,  to  find  how  much  power  and  liberty  the  tribe  or  district  or 
company  should  assign  to  the  central  government,  and  how  much 
it  should  retain  for  itself.  The  safe  general  rule  seems  to  be, 
that  so  far  as  the  principle  is  concerned,  men,  Families,  or  tribes, 
only  resign  to  government  those  rights  which  are  necessary  and 
only  so  far  as  necessary,  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  general 
and  mutual  objects.  But  yet,  that  in  the  practical  and  actual 
administration  of  government,  the  superior  power  (that  is,  the 
more  general)  must  be  the  judge,  as  to  the  actual  administration, 
in  cases  of  doubtful  rights,  and  also  in  cases  of  expediency  not 
conflicting  with  rights.  Because,  the  contrary  supposition  would 
be  unreasonable ;  that  is,  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  suppose, 
that  if  the  right  were  doubtful,  or  the  expediency  remain  to  be 
proved,  the  more  general  power  should  be  subordinate  to  the 
less  general.  Whereas,  as  to  absolute  and  undoubted  rights,  it 
is  simply  absurd  to  suppose  them  to  be  irrecoverably  and  upon 
principle,  transmitted  to  any  second  party  or  second  Unit,  what 
ever  be  its  power. 

In  speaking  as  above,  of  assigning  or  resigning  power  to  gov 
ernment,  it  is  not  meant  that  government  actually  arose  in  that 
way,  nor  to  ignore  the  authority  of  God  in  civil  government ; 
but  only  to  exhibit  that  method,  as  one  of  the  means  of  arriving 
at  what  the  ordinance  of  God  is  in  the  matter. 

CHAP.  VIII.   THE   TRIBE   PRINCIPLE. 

§  1.  In  General,  and  classifications. 

As  in  the  Unit  the  Family,  we  have  to  consider  it  in  two  en- 
tirely  diiferent  aspects,  so  in  the  tribe,  we  have  to  consider  IT  in 
three  subdivisions,  each  of  which,  now  comes  logically  to  be 
viewed  as  a  fundamental  and  essential  element.  Now,  when  we 
take  this  tribe  principle  as  thus  analyzed,  and  apply  it  to  modern 
civilization,  we  see  that  there  arise  three  diiferent  functions  or 
kinds  of  organization,  namely,  (1)  Precinct  or  Neighborhood, 
(township,  ward  or  county,  as  the  case  may  be,)  (2)  Social  Circle 
or  acquaintance,  consisting  in  friendship,  and  providing  for  and 

7 


98  BK-  L      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  VIII. 

looking  towards  new  families,  (3)  organized  voluntary  associa 
tion,  that  is,  lawful  corporation  for  special  purposes,  corpora 
tions  for  business  and  corporations  for  politics,  &c. 

The  casual  reader  will  here  observe  a  kind  of  confusion  in 
our  treatment  of  Corporation.  For,  in  our  main  original  classi 
fications,  we  place  Corporation,  not  among  the  expressly  ascer 
tained  units,  but  as  a  separate  class.  The  confusion  arises  from 
the  subject, — consists  of  the  confluence  of  the  things  in  tribes, 
and  is  explained  by  the  fact,  that  our  theory  anticipates,  that  in 
the  future  the  corporation  will  more  and  more  take  the  place  of, 
and  fulfill  functions  of  civil  government ;  or  at  least,  that  there 
is  a  possibility  and  a  practicability  that  it  may  do  so,  and  that 
all  the  three  elements  of  the  tribe,  tend  towards  a  re-integration 
in  their  primal  form,  but  in  a  renewed  and  Christian  spirit. 
§  2.  Permanence  of  the  Tribe  Principle. 

The  Tribe,  as  an  element  of  society,  although  a  unit  in  the 
early  ages  of  Mankind,  and  of  each  Nation  in  particular,  yet 
soon  disintegrates  or  differentiates  into  heterogeneity ;  and  as  to 
its  form,  so  far  disappears  from  visibility  in  modern  society,  as  to 
require  to  be  considered  as  a  PRINCIPLE  rather  than  as  a  unit. 

In  general,  the  tribe,  according  to  ancient  history  is  the  origi 
nal  foundation  of  political  government,  being  the  immediate 
successor  of  the  patriarchy.  Nor  does  it  ever  lose  its  power  (in 
a  transcendental  sense),  as  a  unit  and  element  of  modern  society. 
But  its  power  and  spirit  ever  survive  in  all  societies,  although 
the  forms  of  its  manifestation  change.  This  idea  seems  not  to 
have  occurred  to  any  previous  writer  that  we  remember. 

We  are  shown  the  IRREPRESSIBLE  activity  of  the  tribe  PRIN 
CIPLE,  by  its  continual  reappearance  in  modern  society,  even 
where  we  should  be  apt  to  expect  it  least, — as  in  the  early  tend 
ency  of  every  religious  denomination  to  change  insensibly  from 
a  voluntary  to  a  virtually  hereditary  association, — especially  is 
this  the  case  with  the  small  denominations.  We  see  the  same 
thing  also,  in  the  various  dignified  occupations  and  professions, 
even  those  of  politicians  and  statesmen.  The  Corporation  be 
comes  a  Social  Circle  led  by  the  same  Families. 
§  3.  Natural  History  of  Tribe. 

This  tribe  principle  has  a  very  complex  origin  in  human 
nature,  and  fulfills  various  different  functions. 


THE   TRIBE   PRINCIPLE.  99 

First,  it  forms  tribes  identical  with  Social  Circles.  It  sup 
plies  Individuals  to  form  new  Families.  Incest  is  decided  to  be 
objectionable,  not  only  on  physical  grounds  but  also  because 
after  arriving  at  puberty,  it  is  well  on  account  of  mental  peculiari 
ties,  for  people  to  have  a  new  start  in  life ;  as  it  were,  a  sort  of 
being  born  again  into  a  new  world,  by  bringing  together  different 
elements  from  different  Families.  And  in  love,  it  is  not  more 
certain  that  we  choose  our  resemblances  in  some  resoects,  than  it 
is  also  certain  that  we  choose  our  contraries  in  certain  other  re 
spects.  Thus  instinct,  as  usual,  anticipates  physiology  and  other 
sciences.  Incest  therefore  needing  to  be  avoided,  a  circle  or 
collection  of  Families,  that  is,  a  tribe,  becomes  a  necessity  even 
to  the  happiness  and  perfection  of  the  Family  itself. 

Then  again,  the  natural  desire  and  tendency  for  friendship  in 
the  same  sex,  of  persons  of  similar  ages  and  sympathies,  require 
a  collection  of  Families.  Otherwise,  the  parents  would  have  no 
friends  of  their  own  sex,  as  here  mentioned.  And  in  the  younger 
ones,  friendship  craves  more  variety  than  the  relation  between  the 
sexes,  and  hence  there  is  a  stronger  reason  for  the  tribe  existence, 
for  these  early  ties,  than  even  for  the  Family  relation  itself. 
Then  we  have  occasional  or  only  temporary  cooperations  needed, 
in  greater  works  than  can  be  accomplished  by  any  one  Family. 
These  give  rise  to  tribes.  There  is  first,  temporary  organization, 
next  social  organization,  next  business  corporation,  next  political 
corporation,  and  next  tribe. 

In  primitive  times  the  tribes  are  often  migratory,  and  so  the 
Precinct  idea  or  even  the  neighborhood  idea,  is  only  temporary 
at  first. 

Even  if  we  assume,  Mankind  arose  from  one  pair,  the  increase 
of  Families  would  soon  give  rise  to  social  sets  and  cliques ;  and 
these  again  would  soon  result  in  the  formation  of  separate  com 
panies  and  of  separate  locations,  thus,  of  tribes.  There  would 
be  no  centralizing  power,  no  central  force  of  attraction  after  the 
first  parents  had  died,  or  at  any  rate,  not  long  after  the  successors 
appointed  immediately  by  them  had  died.  And  thus  the  result 
would  soon  be  Social  Circle,  Corporation  and  Precinct,  together 
forming  an  independent  tribe.  Therefore  it  is,  that  we  must 
commence  the  theory  of  society  as  now  understood,  and  as  related 
to  politics  or  to  government, — with  the  tribes  as  already  existing. 


100  BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  VIII. 

For  the  central  power  which  could  exist  any  length  of  time,  only 
under  a  patriarchal  form,  has  no  relation  to  anything  that  goes 
to  exercise  power  in  modern  society.  It  is  a  power  (in  Family 
isolation),  of  personal  and  parental  affection,  which  can  never 
afterwards  be  repeated  except  under  similar  circumstances. 
Hence  it  is  that  the  theory  of  society  as  a  political  government, 
must  begin  with  the  centrifugal  force  of  rival  tribes,  as  well  as 
their  cooperative  force.  Indeed,  it  seems  almost  certain  in  our 
historical  vision,  that  the  centripetal  force  arose  only  by  an  after 
thought,  namely,  the  combination  of  two  or  more  tribes  to  resist 
some  other  one  tribe  or  combination  of  them. 

The  Social  Circle  and  the  Corporation  are  different  means  of 
overcoming  new  evils;  they  are  new  organs  put  forth  by  the  life 
of  society  in  its  growth, — but  mark !  not  to  fulfill  functions  better 
than  the  now  grown  tribe,  but  to  fulfill  functions  which  the  now 
grown  tribe  cannot  fulfill  at  all.  The  grown  tribe  may,  it  is 
true,  do  the  material  work  to  be  done,  in  an  inferior  manner ; 
but  is  utterly  incapable  of  accomplishing  the  mental  harmony, 
the  moral  work.  Without  the  corporative  organ,  the  tribe  may 
build  a  road,  but  it  will  only  be  either  one  of  universal  necessity, 
or  else  one  of  favoritism  to  a  few,  at  the  expense  of  the  others. 
Again,  without  the  Social  Circle  functions,  the  tribe  may  pro 
duce  marriages,  but  they  will  not  be  happy  ones.  They  will 
either  be  marital  servitude,  as  in  primitive  conditions ;  or  mari 
tal  wars,  as  in  modern  civilization,  where  fashion  now  does  the 
forcing  which  the  barons  and  fathers  used  formerly  to  do. 
§  4.  Mutual  relations  of  the  three  constituents. 

(a)  Balance  of  the  three  constituents.  We  maintain,  that  one 
of  the  necessary  balances  of  power,  must  be  a  balance  between 
these  three  elements,  as  if  units, — as  indeed  between  all  the  six 
units  of  society,  namely,  Individual,  Family,  Social  Circle,  Pre 
cinct,  and  Nation,  and  morally,  Mankind  also ;  each  taken  as 
one  alone.  In  a  harmonious  government,  each  of  these  six 
units  must  have  its  full  influence,  namely,  each  unit  must  have 
an  equal  influence ;  and  each  unit  one  undivided  influence.  And 
similarly,  the  three  elements  of  tribe,  as  if  units,  must  be  brought 
into  and  kept  in  a  balance  with  each  other, — -just  as  the  three 
prismatic  colors,  all  must  be  weaker  or  all  stronger,  in  order  to 
combine  in  a  pure  white  light. 


THE    TRIBE    PRINCIPLE.  1Q1 

Here  then  arises  the  necessity  of  having  each  element  brought 
into  harmony  with  itself, — with  all  parts  of  the  same  element. 

(6)  Corporation.  Formally,  our  theory  does  not  argue  for 
so  much  fundamental  necessity,  prominence  or  importance,  to 
the  Corporation,  as  it  does  to  the  Precinct,  Social  Circle,  and 
those  other  instinctive  elements  we  call  units ;  but  assigns  it  to 
a  separate  order,  called  artificial  or  rational.  All  we  have  to 
remember  here  is,  that  the  right  of  all  citizens  to  form  simple 
corporations  within  the  Precinct,  is  a  right  involved  in  the  fun 
damental  elements  of  society,  namely,  the  tribe  element.  It  is 
therefore  as  eternal  and  indefeasible,  as  the  right  to  form  part 
nerships  or  any  other  contracts  ought  to  be :  but  of  course  not 
including  any  natural  right  of  monopoly,"  for  this  perversion 
into  monopoly,  is  the  very  matter  that  has  destroyed  the  rights 
of  all  men  to  form  corporations  at  their  own  will  and  judgment. 

The  greatest  peculiarities  about  corporations,  appear  to  be 
those  which  follow  essentially  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  and 
relate  mostly  to  those  corporations  whose  very  objects  and  nature 
require  them  to  have  a  greater  local  extent  than  one  Precinct, — 
such  as  corporations  for  roads,  or  travel,  or  general  purposes,  or 
politics,  or  for  larger  divisions  of  territory  than  the  Precinct.  But 
still  these  should  always  if  possible,  be  chartered  by  one  or  more 
Precincts,  rather  than  by  the  Nation.  It  is  chiefly  thus  that 
corporation-honesty  and  moral  responsibility  can  be  revived. 
And  the  Precincts  may  combine  for  special  purposes ;  either  to 
do  certain  works  themselves,  or  to  unite  and  charter  some  corpo 
ration  to  do  the  same  directly,  but  not  through  the  medium  of 
some  other  corporation.  The  chartering  of  one  corporation  by 
another  is  unnatural,  especially  for  political  purposes. 

(c)  Social  Circle.  The  differences  of  Social  Circles,  are  more 
natural  and  inherent  metaphysically,  than  of  location  or  Pre 
cinct  itself;  but  those  of  Corporation  are  less  so ;  and  when  cor 
porations  are  absorbed  by,  or  become  made  up  of  Precincts,  still 
the  differences  of  Social  Circle  will  continue. 

But  the  only  Social  Circles  which  can  found  their  true  defence 
in  the  tribe  principle,  roust  be  those  in  which  the  elements  of 
kindred,  friendship,  affinity,  and  immediate  occupation,  are 
likely  to  be  active  and  prominent.  Hence,  merely  voluntary 
even  if  organic  associations, — called  "classes'7  of  society,  cannot 


102  BK-  L      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  VIII. 

be  considered  to  be  a  fundamental  element  of  government.  They 
are  ghastly  bodies  without  souls,  and  the  cause  of  great  civil  woes. 
In  other  words,  differences  of  social  position  pertain  to  the  Pre 
cinct,  but  not^to  the  Nation :  and  their  physical  forms  should  be 
either  Corporation  or  Precinct.  And  the  Precinct  being  the  ma 
terial  or  bodily  form,  is  the  one  with  which  daily  government  has 
more  to  do.  Yet  the  government  which  is  founded  on  ignoring 
any  fundamental  element,  is  that  far,  .a  falsity.  But  Social  Cir 
cles,  enlarged  and  de-souled  into  "classes  of  society,"  should  have 
no  recognition  as  fundamental  elements  of  the  unit  we  call  Nation. 

Now  in  the  case  of  the  true  Social  Circles,  as  their  character 
and  object  will  be  spiritual,  so  also  should  be  the  power  used, 
namely,  spiritual  moral  and  voluntary.  And  in  their  case  there 
seems  no  easy  task  to  find  any  existing  satisfactory  American 
method,  of  giving  honest  and  peaceful  Social  Circles  any  open 
influence  in  government;  or  of  preserving  in  any  honest  manner 
their  rights,  except  perhaps  in  the  organization  of  juries,  and  in 
two  or  three  other  applications  which  are  to  be  considered  in 
another  place.  But  the  greatest  present  means  for  the  virtuous 
Social  Circles  to  preserve  their  fair  and  equal  rights  against  the 
vicious  Social  Circles,  and  against  inimical  prejudices,  is,  by  so 
ciety  spontaneously  forming  into  small  Precinc:s  with  original 
state  rights,  as  shown  in  that  part  of  the  subject.  In  fact,  all 
minorities  must  look  to  the  full  right  and  freedom  of  forming 
themselves  or  collecting  into  state-Precincts,  as  their  principal 
method  of  obtaining  either  property-rights  or  personal  freedom, 
in  the  United  States.  The  common  corporations  ought  not  to 
have,  and  Social  and  religious  Circles  cannot  easily  have  politi 
cal  rights,  as  such,  in  this  country,  except  as  in  Precincts.  Hence, 
the  tribe  principle  practically  becomes  the  Precinct  element. 
Nevertheless,  new  kinds  of  corporations  can  be  •  devised,  to  ac 
complish  all  that  is  necessary  under  this  head. 

In  this/  country,  property-holders,  like  all  other  minorities, 
can  look  for  their  rights  to  the  spontaneous  formation  of  civil 
corporations,  or  else  of  collecting  in  small  Precincts  where 
owners'  rights  will  be  guarded  simply  on  the  ground  of  the 
fundamental  rights  and  independence  of  the  tribe- elements,  and 
of  the  tribe  principle.  Property  is  only  one  of  the  constituents 
of  Social  Circle.  The  other  constituents  equally  as  important 


THE   TRIBE   PRINCIPLE.  103 

and  active,  are,  morality,  intellect,  education,  and  sometimes  even 
personal  acquaintanceship  and  good  manners. 

(d)  Precinct.  Just  as  in  the  Individual,  improvement  re 
quires  that  each  person  should  become  more  in  harmony  with 
himself;  his  affections,  his  reason,  and  his  will,  all  harmonizing 
together:  and  just  as  in  the  Family,  its  two  objective  principles 
must  be  in  harmony  and  in  unison  with  each  other,  that  is,  the 
parentage  principle  in  unison  with  the  sexual,  in  one  unit  the 
Family;  just  so,  the  three  different  elements  or  principles  of  the 
tribe,  namely,  Precinct  Social  Circle  and  Corporation,  should  in 
a  perfected  social  system,  be  found  all  in  the  same  one  unit ;  that 
is,  the  usual  Precinct  should  be  ever  tending,  more  and  more, 
to  become  or  consist  of  only  one  Social  Circle,  and  to  be  but  one 
corporation  for  its  own  special  purposes. 

But  all  Precincts  need  not  be  thus  constituted.  For  the  most 
beautiful  music  is  made  not  by  all  the  sounds  being  the  same, 
but  by  some  of  the  notes  being  far  distant  in  the  scale,  yet  duly 
related  to  each  other,  and  so,  harmonious.  And  the  prettiest  of 
all  the  accords,  and  the  only  one  that  nature  makes,  is  the  octave, 
(the  natural  harmony  of  the  male  and  female  voices).  Thus 
one  kind  of  Precincts  would  consist  of  sames  or  equals  as  to  in 
tellect,  morals  and  property :  the  other  kind  would  be  of  accords, 
where  the  differences  of  intellect  morals  and  property  would  be 
organically  recognized.  But  the  tendency  of  even  these  two 
kinds  of  Precincts  would  ever  be  towards  each  other  morally 
and  metaphysically ;  namely,  towards  each  other  in  resemblance, 
and  towards  each  other  in  friendship. 

It  would  therefore  appear,  that  most  of  those  powers  of  Indi 
vidual  freedom,  which  the  Individual-liberty  theorists  advocate 
for  private  persons,  we  advocate  for  the  three  differentiations  of 
the  tribe  principle,  namely,  Precinct,  Social  Circle  and  Corpora 
tion.  And  we  prevent  these  from  abuses  and  tyranny,  by  two 
principles.  One  is,  the  equal  rights  of  all  other  similar  bodies, 
as  established  and  guarded  by  the  central  or  general  government ; 
Spencer's  principle  for  the  Individual,  extended  to  these  three 
social  bodies.  The  other  principle  is,  by  making  the  Precincts  so 
small  comparatively,  and  by  so  securing  the  freedom  and  security 
of  persons  and  property,  in  changing  from  one  Precinct  to  an 
other,  that  the  free  choices  become  indefinitely  various. 


104  BK-  L      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  IX. 

Precincts  being  material  things, — visible  material  divisions  of 
the  earth, — must  ever  be  the  forms  and  bodies,  of  which  social 
differences  and  voluntary  associations  are  the  souls.  Precincts 
are  the  fundamental  organizations  for  human  liberties,  and  for 
the  rights  of  minorities.  Then,  by  the  voluntary  principles  of 
competition,  interest,  urgency  and  utility,  whereby  Individuals 
and  parents  are  now  able  to  regulate  themselves  and  their  affairs, 
the  Precincts  would  then  be  obliged  and  be  taught,  to  regulate 
themselves  and  their  affairs  for  the  general  good.  And  this,  too, 
without  their  necessarily  having  any  more  really  benevolent  in 
tentions,  or  much  more  Social  Science  than  they  now  have ;  but 
all  be  brought  about  by  those  spontaneous  natural  principles  of 
social  order,  which  the  liberty  and  "  let  alone"  theorists  advocate 
for  Individuals.  Thus  Precincts,  like  Individuals,  would  all  be 
acting  however  ignorantly  yet  surely,  for  the  good  of  all  the 
others. 

CHAP.    IX.      BALANCES    OF    ALL    THE    ELEMENTS    OF    SOCIAL 

SCIENCE. 

§  1 .  Balances  of  the  Analytical  Seven. 

(a)  Law  of  proportions  of  power.  The  balance  of  elements, 
implying  an  equality  of  political  power  in  each,  requires  that 
the  activity  and  perceptibility  of  the  power  of  each  should  be  in 
inverse  proportion  to  its  extent  or  greatness.  In  other  words, 
the  larger  and  the  more  complex  and  less  voluntary,  any  po 
litical  organization  is,  the  less  compulsory  power  should  it  exer 
cise  over  the  elements  below  it ;  in  other  wrords,  the  greater  the 
tribe  or  Precinct  or  company,  the  less  power  should  it  exercise, 
over  either  the  Families  or  the  Individuals  who  compose  it. 
And  the  greater  the  Nation,  the  less  power  should  it  attempt 
over  either  the  Precincts,  companies,  Families  or  Individuals, 
wTho  compose  it. 

(6)  Natural  tendency  to  over-centralization.  Nearly  all  the 
political  evils  of  government  come  from  violating  the  foregoing 
law, — come  from  applying  to  tribes  and  Precincts,  principles 
applicable  only  to  Families,  and  then  applying  to  Nations,  prin 
ciples  that  are  only  applicable  to  tribes  or  Precincts.  This  we 
shall  find  to  be  the  cause  and  process,  not  only  in  theory,  but 
in  the  actual  history  of  the  origin  of  society  and  governments. 


BALANCES  OF  THE  FOURTEEN  ELEMENTS.        1Q5 

Even  the  Chinese  empire,  now  consisting  of  one-third  the  popu 
lation  of  the  earth,  was  once  a  small  tribe ;  and  then  its  patri 
archal  form  was  quite  appropriate.  The  only  mistake  it  has 
made  is, — just  like  that  of  our  individual  states,  namely,  merely 
retaining  the  old  form  under  the  now  entirely  different  circum 
stances.  And  this  too,  with  the  same  excuse  as  we,  namely, 
that  the  change  of  extent  is  too  gradual  to  be  exactly  marked  as 
to  any  precise  time. 

Just  as  Individuals  generally  have  a  tendency  to  excess  of  all 
social  indulgences,  and  to  giving  the  social  customs  of  society 
unrighteous  sway ;  so  have  governments  and  Nations  the  tend 
ency  to  excess  of  the  social  principle  in  centralization.  Just  as 
the  stronger  sex  has  sway,  to  the  neglect  of  the  feelings  of  the 
weaker,  so  in  political  constitutions,  the  stronger  unit,  that  is, 
the  Nation,  is  prone  more  and  more  to  have  its  own  way,  even 
with  the  free  consent  of  the  lesser  ones.  The  thorough  reform 
must  come,  not  from  the  Precinct,  but  from  the  Nation.  The 
tendency  is  towards  too  much  compulsory  society  throughout. 
In  Families,  it  comes  to  neglect  the  rights  of  Individuals,  and 
makes  social  slaves.  In  the  Precinct  or  neighborhood,  it  comes 
under  the  guise  of  fashion,  to  nullify  the  rights  of  Families  and 
Individuals.  In  the  Nation,  it  comes  absorbing  all  the  rights 
of  the  Precinct,  and  finally  reverses  the  true  order  of  nature, 
and  assumes  with  true  feudal  despotism,  that  the  rights  of  the 
Precinct  flow  downwards  from  the  Nation.  In  like  manner  no 
doubt,  if  a  universal  or  general  empire  of  many  Nations  could 
be  established,  it  would  also  have  the  temerity  to  assume,  that 
all  rights  had  originated  from  it ;  although  Mankind  had  been 
without  it  in  fact  for  thousands  of  years,  and  it  itself  were  but 
of  yesterday,  the  mere  success  of  tyranny  or  of  brute  force. 

"With  the  Chinese  and  about  three-fourths  of  the  population 
of  the  globe,  the  two  elements  which  the  governments  chiefly 
recognize  are,  first,  the  Family  element,  through  its  head  the 
father;  second,  the  Mankind-element,  in  the  limited  form  of  a 
universal  empire  of  its  own  race  entirely  secluded  from  all  other 
races. 

In  the  other  and  smaller  part  of  the  human  race,  the  Family 
as  a  governmental  element  is  scarcely  recognized  at  all,  and  the 
national  and  race  ideas,  are  not  isolation  from  all  other  Nations, 


106  r'K-  I-      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.     II.  IX. 

but  are  conquest  over  them ;  and  among  the  Nations  themselves, 
the  idea  is  not  confederation,  at  least  not  permanent  confedera 
tion,  but  each  one  struggles  to  maintain  such  a  balance  of  power, 
as  will  give  itself  a  moderate  advantage  over  each  of  the  other 
powers  in  the  equilibrium!  Yet  all  the  while,  the  idea  of  a 
Precinct  as  an  element  of  governmental  power,  has  never  had 
its  balanced  exhibit  among;  civilized  or  semi-civilized  Nations, 

o  / 

except  perhaps  in  some  parts  of  the  German  empire,  in  India 
and  Japan.  But  among  savages  and  barbarians,  the  idea  of  the 
Precinct-power,  has  been  held  with  such  tenacity  as  absolutely  to 
prevent  nationality. 

(c)  Fields  of  physical  and  metaphysical  power.     In  the  spon 
taneous  and  inorganic  relations  of  Nations  to  Mankind,  and  in 
corporations,  the  more  developed  and  intellectual  parts  obtain 
mastery  over  the  others.     Whereas,  in  the  compulsory,  very 
formal,  organic  and  ordinary  relations  of  Precincts  to  Nations, 
the  most  physical  and  least  cultivated  morally,  whether  persons 
or  Precincts,  are  the  classes  which  are  strong,  and  do  practically 
succeed  in  governing  the  whole  Nation.     Thus  the  South  gov 
erned  the  North, — and  now  the  West  governs  the  East. 

The  submission  of  Individuals  and  of  Precincts  to  Nations, 
is  different  from  that  of  Nation  to  Nation,  or  of  Nation  to 
Mankind.  The  principles  are  different. 

Hence,  each  locality,  and  every  minority,  should  have  its 
rights  protected  by  some  practical  and  social  means,  at  least  as 
effectual  in  their  sphere,  as  the  barriers  of  race,  which  include 
language,  religion  and  permanent  intellectual  and  physical  de 
velopment.  And  it  is  evident  that  there  is  no  possible  arrange 
ment  short  of  human  perfection,  that  can  accomplish  this  end, 
except  that  radical  constitution  of  Precinct,  which  our  theory 
proposes;  or  that  of  voluntary  political  Corporation,  subsequently 
to  be  more  fully  explained. 

(d]  Different  elements  represent  different  rights.    There  are  three 
moral  theories  of  social  rights,  essentially  different,  namely,  the 
cosmopolitan,  the  national,  and  the   neighborly.     These  three 
moral  theories  are  all  true  in  their  proper  locations,  but  outrage 
ously  false,  out  of  their  locations. 

The  cosmopolitan  or  universal-brotherhood  theory,  is  that 
which  properly  applies  to  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Precinct, 


BALANCES  OF  THE  FOURTEEN  ELEMENTS.        1Q7 

and  of  the  Corporation,  except  to  such  affairs  as  are  inconsistent 
with  the  peculiar  organization  or  object  thereof.  But  the  national 
theory  applies  to  affairs  outward  of  the  Nation,  and  establishes 
chiefly,  the  self-protecting  rights.  The  Nation's  chief  operations 
are  with  other  Nations,  it  being  the  protector  of  Precincts  and 
Corporations,  and  being  the  organ  expressly  for  foreign  affairs. 
The  chief  uses  of  central  or  national  government,  are  to  guard 
against  the  forces,  tricks,  tariffs,  &c.,  of  other  national  govern 
ments  ;  and  to  prevent  the  internal  Individuals,  Families,  and 
tribes,  from  resorting  to  force,  tricks,  tariffs,  &c.,  in  hinderance 
of  internal  freedom  and  intercourse.  The  Nation,  as  to  other 
Nations,  is  to  be  an  active  power  in  principle ;  whilst  in  regard 
to  the  internal  parts  of  which  it  is  composed,  it  is  to  be  nega 
tively  active,  namely,  active  chiefly  to  anticipate  and  prevent 
probable  disorders ;  Nations  being  supposed  to  be  at  selfish  com 
petition  with  other  Nations,  and  to  favor  peaceful  cooperation 
within  their  own  borders. 

To  consider,  then,  the  most  active  and  efficient  functions  of 
right  daily  government,  we  must  go  to  the  Precincts  or  small 
bodies,  and  consider  THEIE  rights  and  powers. 

As  to  the  Nation's  influence  WITHIN  the  Precincts,  or  within 
the  corporations,  THAT  must  be  founded  upon  cosmopolitan  or 
universal  brotherhood  principles,  with  the  additional  idea  of  a 
paternal  governing  and  unifying  principle.  Whereas,  the  Pre 
cincts  themselves,  and  the  corporations  also,  each  one  for  itself, 
will  be  the  administrator  of  the  aforesaid  world-wide  principles 
of  brotherhood,  to  all  such  persons  as  properly  and  of  right 
compose  it,  or  ought  to  continue  to  compose  it.  To  all  others, 
it  must  be  a  self-protecting  institution,  that  is,  be  conducted  on 
the  national  theory.  The  same  is  true,  also,  of  Social  Circles, 
Families,  and  Individuals, — every  one  for  itself,  the  Nation  for 
them  all. 

The  difference  between  national  and  Precinct  rights,  may  be 
summed  up  thus ;  national  government  is  fulfilled  by  securing 
the  two  rights, — internal  liberty  and  removal.  Precinct  govern 
ment  is  fulfilled  by  securing  internal  strictness,  and  by  free 
removal.  And  voluntary  Corporation  can  fulfill  many  of  the 
functions  of  both  Precinct  and  Nation,  but  not  all  the  functions 
of  either. 


108  BK-  !•      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  IX. 

§  2.  Balances  of  the  whole  Fourteen. 

(a)  In  General.  The  foregoing  doctrines  of  the  balance  of 
the  units  are  now  to  be  explained  in  a  wider  sense.  Hitherto 
we  have  referred  them  only  to  the  elements  of  the  analytics,  but 
now  they  are  to  be  widened  so  as  to  include  the  elements  of  the 
synthetics  also :  and  these  balances  are  to  be  understood  chiefly 
in  a  moral  and  metaphysical  sense. 

Society,  as  we  have  already  seen,  analytically  consists  of  six 
instinctive  units  and  one  deliberate  element,  together  making 
seven  fundamental  elements ;  also  we  have  seen  that  synthet 
ically  considered  there  are  seven  departments  of  thought  and 
administration  in  government  (whatever  be  the  analytical  ele 
ments  which  administer  it  or  are  subject  to  it), — namely,  Prop 
erty,  Life,  Health,  Intellectuals,  Morals,  Civil  Government,  and 
Communism.  And  a  complete  Social  Science  must  include  the 
treatment  of  all  the  fourteen  elements  as  fundamental :  and 
therefore,  a  balance  must  be  maintained  between  them.'  But 
the  term  balance  must  now  be  understood  in  a  more  abstract 
sense.  The  first  seven  elements  are  typical  of  the  last  seven. 
Thus,  all  we  have  said  of  the  theory  and  balance  of  the  first 
seven,  is,  by  a  little  enlargement  of  principle,  applicable  to  the 
theory  and  balance  of  the  whole  fourteen  also.  But  the  balance 
now,  is  rather  a  balance  of  opinions  and  of  scientific  departments, 
than  of  political  powers. 

Here  belongs  the  explanation  of  a  law  of  facts  that  has  often 
been  observed,  namely,  that  the  attempts  to  suppress  some  moral 
evils  by  force,  or  by  direct  legal  action, — turn  out  in  fact  to 
really  increase  the  evils,  besides  producing  other  and  greater 
ones.  Attempts  of  this  kind  generally  come  from  efforts  by 
some  more  general  Ele:nent,  to  take  away  the  rights  of  some 
less  general  one.  Th.^  explanation  then  is,  that  the  rights  of 
each  element  will  find  vent  in  its  own  sphere,  so  that  no  one 
element  CAN  profitably  interfere  with  the  rights  of  another 
element.  No  other  explanation  of  the  curious  law  of  facts 
above  mentioned,  has  been  given  that  we  know  of,  which  does 
not  tend  in  substance,  either  to  take  away  the  value  of  law 
altogether,  or  else  offer  itself  as  a  mere  isolated  and  empirical 
explanation  of  some  single  fact.  But  what  is  wanted  is  an 
explanation  which  will  be  both  general  rnd  definite. 


BALANCES   OF   THE   FOURTEEN  ELEMENTS. 

(c)  Balancing  powers,  to  be  homogeneous.  Moral  powers  must 
balance  moral  ones,  and  political  powers,  balance  political.  For, 
in  regard  to  the  balance  of  the  elements,  it  is  not  always  neces 
sary  that  the  equilibrium  be  maintained  by  political  or  civil 
power,  neither  is  it  possible  always  to  maintain  such  equilibrium 
by  moral  or  intellectual  means  only,  without  civil  or  political 
power,  but  sometimes  the  one  kind  of  power  must  be  relied 
upon,  and  sometimes  the  other.  All  that  this  part  of  the  theory 
requires  is,  that  the  equilibrium  should  SOMEHOW  be  actually 
maintained. 

It  will  however  be  evident  on  reflection,  that  to  establish  a 
theory  which  will  be  simple  and  homogeneous, — the  political 
power  of  one  element  must  always  be  balanced  by  the  political 
power  of  the  other  elements ;  and  so  also  with  the  moral  powers. 
Thus  for  instance,  the  moral  or  intellectual  powers  of  a  district 
should  be  balanced  by  the  same  kind  of  powers  in  the  Individ 
ual,  the  Family  or  the  Nation.  And  on  the  other  hand,  just 
in  proportion  to  whatever  political  power  may  be  granted  to  a 
Nation,  so  also  should  balancing  political  power  be  bestowed 
upon  the  Individual,  the  Family,  and  the  district.  For  while 
it  is  true  that  one  kind  of  power  in  one  element,  may  possibly 
be  greatly  counterbalanced  by  another  kind  of  power  in  the 
other  elements,  yet  the  problem  or  case  for  human  calculation 
is  thereby  made  indefinitely  or  infinitely  complex:  so  that  on 
the  one  hand,  human  reason  can  never  fully  understand  the 
equilibrium,  even  if  an  equilibrium  could  be  obtained ;  and  on 
the  other  hand,  the  chances  are  almost  infinite  against  there 
ever  being  an  equilibrium  under  such  conditions. 

It  would  follow  from  this  theory ;  as  Mankind  or  the  race  as 
a  whole,  is  a  real  unit ;  that  government  can  never  be  perfect 
until  some  limited  balance  of  political  power  is  vested  in  Man 
kind,  and  some  suitable  political  form  discovered  whereby  that 
power  may  be  exercised.  And  as  long  and  as  far  as  the  power 
of  mankind  as  a  whole,  is  exercised  only  by  moral  and  intel 
lectual  means,  so  far  and  so  long  it  may  be  kept  in  due  equilib 
rium,  without  any  other  powers  in  the  other  elements  than  the 
moral  intellectual  powers ;  and  vice-versa. 

Some  principles  of  social  duty  are  dependent  entirely  upon 
conditions  of  mutuality,  for  instance,  the  Free  Trade  principles. 


BK-  L      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  IX. 

So  also  are  all  theories  of  equality.  They  must  be  recognized 
by  both  parties,  or  they  are  not  justly  obligatory  upon  either. 
Yet,  there  are  Christian  duties  of  supererogation,  to  a  limited  de 
gree,  in  Social  Science.  But  on  ordinary  principles,  no  Nation, 
Precinct,  locality  or  corporation,  can  be  expected  to  act  unself 
ishly  to  others,  nor  to  cease  to  strive  to  maintain  or  obtain  mas 
tery,  when  it  knows  that  the  others  are  striving  to  maintain  or 
obtain  the  mastery  over  it. 

Although  the  balance  of  power  and  of  rights  between  all  the 
fourteen  elements,  is  to  be  equally  maintained,  yet  property  is 
not  to  be  counted  directly,  except  in  communism,  where  the 
very  nature  of  communism  counteracts  the  evils  of  an  honest 
property  influence  or  representation  within  a  commune.  In  other 
words,  a  regulated  and  limited  common  property  can  (and  alone 
can)  firmly  establish  a  property-representation  for  those  who 
have  contributed  it.  This  doctrine  of  course  precludes,  until  a 
more  perfect  human  nature  comes,  that  absolute  communism 
which  the  so-called  socialists  imagine.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
it  excludes  all  vain  and  hopeless  attempts  to  obtain  for  property, 
some  political  power  indirectly  in  ordinary  civil  government. 

(c)  Delegation  of  Powers.  Each  element  must  be  considered 
as  delegating  a  portion  of  its  powers  to  the  political  govern 
ments  of  the  Precinct,  Nation  or  Corporation,  so  far  as  neces 
sary  for  the  preservation  of  the  rest  of  the  rights  and  interests 
of  the  same  element;  but  not,  as  is  generally  thought,  be  required 
to  make  this  sacrifice  for  the  rights  and  interests  of  some  other 
unit  or  element.  For  that  would  be  a  sort  of  metaphysical 
generosity,  not  to  be  expected  in  government  affairs. 

Good  government  cannot  be  obtained  without  delegating 
strong  powers  to  some  party  or  organ,  whether  Unit,  Element 
or  Individual.  But  the  difficulty  is  how  to  apportion  the  dif 
ferent  powers  to  their  proper  Elements. 

The  right  of  government  to  operate  in  various  miscellaneous 
affairs,  not  directly  necessary  to  preserve  equal  rights  and  prop 
erty  (such  as  education,  maintenance  of  the  poor,  post  offices, 
&c.j  &c.,)  has  been  questioned.  But  we  maintain  that  the  im 
portant  tests  are,  not  the  kinds  of  wrork,  but  the  amount  and 
object  of  the  interference,  and  especially  the  unit  by  which  the 
interference  is  to  be  accomplished. 


BALANCES   OF   THE   FOURTEEN  ELEMENTS.  m 

We  must  grant  the  right  of  each  unit  to  take  direct  care  of 
the  parts  next  under  it,  and  of  which  it  is  composed.  But 
excessive  centralization  cannot  be  justified  by  authority  of  this 
principle,  because  excessive  centralization  attributes  to  a  Nation 
the  right  to  violate  the  equal  rights,  all  at  once,  of  all  the  other 
units. 

Another  point  to  touch  upon  here,  relates  to  all  the  depart 
ments  of  government.  This  point  is  the  right  of  government 
to  an  adequate  share  of  property-accumulations,  bearing  some 
proportion  to  its  share  of  influence  in  the  production  thereof. 
Nearly  all  property  is  owing  largely  to  civilization,  and  that 
again  is  largely  owing  to  the  peace  and  order  produced  by  good 
government.  This  claim  comes,  not  for  officers  nor  Individuals, 
but  for  the  thing  itself, — government.  Good  government  can 
not  be  obtained  without  paying  well  for  it  openly  and  honestly, 
both  in  money  and  in  honor;  to  some  persons  money,  and  to 
other  persons  honor,  and  to  others,  both.  And  if  the  large 
payments  were  made  honestly  and  openly,  the  real  expense 
would  be  less  in  the  end  than  where  the  remunerations  are 
taken  underhandedly ;  and  then  better  men  also  would  be 
secured. 

(d)  Typicalness  of  the  Series.  In  the  series  (as  given  in  the 
Analytics)  of  the  seven  elements,  each  of  the  six  units  as  a 
whole  is  typical  of  all  the  units  above  it  in  generality ;  and  the 
developments  of  each  unit  are  therefore  to  be  considered  as 
typical  of  higher  social  phenomena, — as  a  flight  of  six  stairs, 
rising  higher  and  higher.  But  Corporation  placed  solitary  as 
the  seventh  element,  has  all  the  six  units  typical  of  and  leading 
to  it,  not  as  stairs,  each  to  and  by  means  of  the  other,  but  each 
for  itself  leading  directly  to  it,  like  doors  and  windows  on  the 
first  floor  of  a  building.  Consequently,  the  reader  is  requested 
to  give  that  turn  to  whatever  articles  we  may  publish  of  that 
analytical  series,  so  far  as  their  nature  admits ;  and  thus  to  read 
them  with  both  meanings.  For  it  is  by  such  methods  of  study, 
applied  to  each  unit,  that  the  writer  entertains  hopes  of  some  of 
the  many  future  unexpected,  but  indisputable,  developments  in 
Social  Science.  And  it  appears  to  him  that  the  very  same  rela 
tions,  but  in  a  more  transcendental  sense,  may  be  traced  in  the 
seven  elements  of  the  Synthetics  also. 


BK.  I.     SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  X. 


CHAP.   X.     ARBITRATION-JURIES. 

§  1.  Indirect  Balances  in  General. 

There  are  some  very  simple  indirect  methods  of  approxi 
mating  the  genera]  balance  of  all  the  fourteen  elements.  The 
first  is,  investing  the  male  sex  alone  with  civil  powers.  Bat  of 
that,  we  would  treat  under  Family.  The  second  consists  in  in 
vesting  age  with  a  counterbalancing  power  in  government.  This 
may  be  accomplished  by  placing  the  powers  of  age  and  youth  in 
separate  legislative  bodies,  so  as  to  counterbalance  each  other;  — 
malting  greater  age  a  qualification  for  voting  for  senators,  than 
for  voting  for  members  of  the  lower  house.  The  mere  age  of 
the  official  representative,  (as  now  ordained)  is  of  very  little  con 
sequence  in  this  connection.  This  topic  will  be  treated  under 
"  Civil  Government."  Another  method  of  indirect  balance,  is 
by  arbitration-juries,  the  full  and  practical  details  of  which  are 
reserved  fpr  "  Civil  Government."  But  here  we  give  a  general 
statement  of  the  idea. 

§  2.  Arbitration. 

Here,  a  few  words  may  be  allowed  upon  the  propriety  of  ar 
bitration  in  civil  affairs.  Often,  both  parties  in  a  suit  are  to 
blame  :  in  which  case,  judges  and  juries  ought  to  prescribe  com 
promises  where  practicable.  But  our  laws  do  not  fulfill  any 
such  function,  except  the  parties  themselves  voluntarily  agree 
to  it  :  which  is  not  at  all  what  we  mean.  For  the  law,  in  many 
cases  ought  to  fix  compromises,  rather  than  decide  entirely  on 
one  side. 

The  next  argument  in  favor  of  compromises,  is,  that  all  law 
and  all  order  and  all  society  are  founded  upon  compromises. 
An  instance  is  found  in  the  new  law  to  settle  the  difficulties  of 
the  land-tenancy  in  Ireland.  It  is  to  be  administered  by  courts 
of  arbitration  specially  instituted  for  the  purpose.  Because  it  is 
evident,  that  common  law  remedies  for  a  grievance  so  deep, 
among  a  people  so  poor  as  the  Irish  are,  would  be  useless  to 
them.  And  if  arbitration  be  good  for  them,  why  will  it  not  be 
equally  good  for  us  and  for  all  ?  Thus  it  is,  that  the  necessity 
of  arbitration  in  civil  affairs,  is  beginning  to  be  perceived.  And 
even  in  criminal  affairs,  the  Scotch  have  a  compromise  verdict, 
namely,  "  not  proved." 


ARBITRATION-JURIES.  113 

§  3.  Juries  in  general. 

Juries,  originally  in  former  times,  were  only  of  the  middle 
class.  They  were  an  institution  established  to  protect  the 
middle  class  from  the  tyranny  of  the  landed  aristocracy.  The 
middle  class  is  of  course  the  most  suitable  if  only  one  class  is  to 
be  represented  therein.  But  anyone  class  will  take  too  much 
care  of  itself.  The  right  to  vote,  and  the  right  to  serve  on 
juries,  were  co-existent  at  the  first;  and  then,  when  the  right  to 
vote  was  given  to  all  in  the  United  States,  the  right  of  juries 
went  with  it,  although  not  deliberately  as  a  specific  or  intended 
object,  but  incidentally,  and  even  perhaps  inadvertently,  jury 
work  being  considered  as  a  duty  rather  than  as  a  right. 

The  idea  of  trying  a  man  "  by  his  peers,"  originated  in  crimi 
nal  trials,  when  political  offences  were  held  to  be  the  same  as 
criminal  ones,  and  when  the  defendant  was  considered  as  the 
only  person  interested  (the  commonwealth  being  considered  as 
the  plaintiff),  but  that  idea  does  not  apply  to  property  cases,  for 
in  these,  there  are  involved  the  interests,  at  least  of  two  other 
Individuals.  But  even  in  personal  and  criminal  cases,  the  feel 
ings  of  the  injured  and  the  sympathy  of  his  friends,  have  a  right 
to  be  and  ought  to  be  heard,  at  least  as  fully  as  those  of  the 
accused.  Only  thus  can  private  revenge  be  prevented.  More 
over,  to  give  one  class,  trials  by  their  own  sympathizers  only, 
tends  to  put  other  classes  at  their  mercy  as  to  life  and  limb, 
and  destroys  the  general  feeling  of  security.  Now  in  principle, 
the  idea  of  trying  a  man  by  a  jury  of  his  own  class  alone,  is  just 
as  absurd,  as  it  would  be  to  try  men  by  a  jury  composed  only 
of  the  sympathizers  with  the  injured  party  or  with  the  accusers. 
Hence,  both  in  criminal  trials  and  civil  suits,  the  jury  ought  to 
consist  of  men  from  both  sides  or  classes. 

§  4.   Classes  of  Society. 

Juries,  if  they  are, ever  to  be  impartial  and  under  equal  influ 
ences,  must  recognize  existing  classes,  and  provide  against  in 
equality  in  the  jury  box.  As  long  as  petty  jealousies  do  exist 
between  elements  of  society,  and  the  sympathizers  of  each  decide 
for  its  own  class ;  and  as  long  as  oaths  have  so  little  effect  in 
doubtful  matters  of  opinion ;  and  as  the  decisions  of  juries  often 
of  necessity  have  to  depend  upon*  doubtful,  obscure  and  difficult 
points  of  facts  and  of  law, — so  long  every  government  should, 


BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  X. 

in  some  measure  take  cognizance  of  and  provide  for  the  differ 
ences  which  do  exist ;  and  the  government  which  so  fails  to 
recognize  the  real  differences,  is  so  far  founded  upon  a  falsity, 
and  so  far  is  in  itself  a  despotism.  And  if  government  persists 
in  such  oversight,  and  persists  in  practically  maintaining  that 
minorities  have  no  rights  that  majorities  are  bound  to  respect; 
such  selfishness  and  unfairness  in  the  government,  will  surely 
also  select  unfair  men  for  its  officers,  and  men  not  above  taking 
bribes ;  and  the  consequence  will  be,  that  the  minorities  will 
persist  and  increase  in  their  practices,  of  considering  that  majori 
ties  have  no  rights  that  minorities  are  bound  to  respect  if  they 
can  avoid  them  by  bribery  and  trickery.  The  present  anarchical 
and  selfish  condition  of  the  moral  sentiments  on  these  subjects, 
is  very  acceptable  to  those  who  are  willing  to  give  or  to  receive 
bribes,  but  is  rapidly  corrupting  the  moral  tone  of  the  Nation, 
and  throwing  the  wealth  of  the  country  into  the  hands  of  im 
moral  tricksters  or  reckless  gamblers ;  and  unless  checked,  must 
ultimately  result  in  driving  honest  poverty  out  of  politics,  and 
honest  wealth  out  of  the  country.  Let  all  classes  have  their 
dues,  but  let  them  use  the  means  of  honesty,  compromise  and 
arbitration.  Then  politics  will  become  synonymous  with  pat 
riotism  ;  and  wealth  become  synonymous  with  virtue  and 
utility. 

Taking  juries  indiscriminately  from  the  people,  gives  the 
refined,  the  educated,  and  the  wealthy  circles,  but  a  small 
minority,  seldom  even  one  in  each  jury,  and  in  cities,  not  one 
for  several  juries.  Now,  in  trials  where  large  amounts  of  prop 
erty  are  in  dispute  between  contestants  all  wealthy,  this  habit 
of  submitting  them  to  the  decision  of  men  most  of  whom  have 
little  or  no  property,  and  whose  personal  character  is  unknown, 
is  a  habit  quite  as  erroneous  in  principle  as  it  is  unjust  and  cor 
rupting  in  practice.  Moreover,  juries  in  reality  are  a  sort  of 
arbitrators,  and  ought  to  be  so  considered  and  arranged  for,  in 
order  that  both  plaintiff  and  defendant,  and  all  parties  interested, 
should  have  an  equal  representation  therein.  And  it  is  well 
known  that  in  the  large  cities,  the  juries  very  often  are  packed, 
and  made  to  consist  of  men  of  little  character,  and  who  are 
either  watching  out  for  jobs,  or  glad  to  glut  their  clan-animosi 
ties  and  partialities.  - 


PRINCIPLE    OF   VOTES. 

§  5.  Principles  of  the  Methods. 

The  methods  for  constituting  juries  which  we  would  propose 
as  the  true  ones,  are  founded  upon  the  three  following  principles. 
(1)  A  wise  recognition  of,  and  so  an  efficient  provision  against, 
the  evils  of  the  different  classes  of  society.  This  recognition 
might  ascertain  the  classes  of  society,  either  on  the  basis  of  vol 
untary  association,  or  of  Social  Circles,  or  on  the  basis  of  their 
taxation,  or  on  the  basis  of  expenditures.  (2)  The  second  prin 
ciple  upon  which  our  proposed  method  is  founded,  is  a  modified 
arbitration,  namely,  simple  arbitration  modified  by  this,  that  the 
parties  are  to  choose,  not  the  individual  arbitrators,  but  the  class 
thereof;  or  at  any  rate,  the  law  to  choose  such  a  class  for  them 
as  they  would  naturally  choose  for  themselves.  That  is  to  say, 
the  law  chooses  a  portion  of  the  arbitrators  from  their  natural 
class.  (3)  The  third  principle  upon  which  juries  should  be 
founded  is,  the  principle  of  counting  the  public  a  third  party, 
needing  its  share  of  arbitrators  in  trials  for  crimes  or  public 
wrongs,  also  in  civil  cases  of  direct  public  interest ;  so  that  the 
public  would  have  one-third  of  the  arbitrators,  and  the  plaintiff 
another  third,  and  the  defendant  another  third. 

CHAP.  XI.    PRINCIPLE   OF   VOTES. 

§  1.  Expression  of  Averages. 

As  the  universal  balance  of  all  the  elements  of  Social  Science, 
is  supposed  to  be  the  highest  attainment  of  human  government, 
— so,  in  a  republican  government,  or  in  a  deliberative  body,  this 
balance  of  elements  may  be  popularly  supposed  to  be  attained 
by  and  in  the  AVERAGE  will  of  the  ONE  element,  namely,  the 
Individual.  At  any  rate,  a  government  can  only  be  truly  re 
publican,  even  as  representing  only  the  one  element  Individual, 
when  it  represents  the  opinion  and  the  will  of  the  AVERAGE  OF 
ALL;  not  of  a  majority  only.  The  true  will  of  any  voting 
assembly  is  not  its  majority- will,  but  its  average  will. 

The  discovery  and  expression  of  averages  by  elections,  is  a 
problem  requiring  considerable  mathematical  ability  to  under 
stand,  when  stated  briefly:  therefore  a  fuller  treatment  of  it  is 
reserved  for  "Civil  Government."  But  the  process  of  voting 
under  it  would  be  quite  simple  enough.  It  is  a  process  which 
is  also  commendable  for  its  other  advantages,  besides  the  mere 


116 


BK.  I.     SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  XL 


feature  of  its  expressing  averages,  and  is  merely  one  case  under 
the  general  formula  of  the  ideal  ballot  now  to  be  mentioned. 

§  2.   The  Ideal  Ballot. 

(1)  Ideal  Ballot  in  general.  As  a  brief  abstract  statement 
would  scarcely  be  intelligible,  the  accompanying  concrete  for 
mula  is  furnished.  This  general  formula  ticket  is  given  in  a 
very  low  number  of  names,  merely  to  exhibit  the  principle. 
The  names  of  persons  may  be  either  written  or  printed.  The 
grade  figures  below  100  must  be  written  by  each  voter.  The 
rest  of  the  ticket  is  supposed  always  to  be  printed.  It  exhibits 
ORDERS  of  choice  and  also  DEGREES  in  those  orders.  In  the 
proposed  article  "Civil  Government"  we  shall  show  how  to 
simplify  these  ballots  and  the  degrees  of  choice  for  practical 
purposes ;  but  here  we  treat  them  only  generally  and  for  mathe 
maticians,  to  show  the  theory. 

TICKET. 


CANDIDATES7    NAMES. 

GRADE   VALUE. 

—  Adams 

First  Choice      100 

—  Brown 

Second  Choice     P5 

-  Clark 

Third  Choice       92 

—  Dunn 

Fourth  Choice     70 

—  Evans 

Fifth  Choice        66 

-  Flipp 

Sixth  Choice        62 

This  formula  would  probably  be  the  actual  ticket,  only  in 
four  cases ;  namely,  either  for  six  choices  by  each  voter,  if  only 
one  officer  were  being  voted  for, — or  three  choices,  if  a  board  of 
two  officers  were  being  voted  for, — or  two  choices,  if  a  board  of 
three  officers.  (Or  six  votes  for  four  officers.) 

For  small  boards  however,  three  choices  for  each  officer  should 
be  allowed  to  each  voter.  And  even  for  large  boards  there 
should  never  be  less  than  two  choices  for  each  officer.  So  that 
in  cases  of  large  boards,  the  ticket  should  be  enlarged  to  double 
the  number  of  the  board  to  be  elected.  For  instance,  a  board 
of  ten  officers  would  require  a  ticket  with  privileges  of  at  least 
twenty  names,  by  each  voter. 

This  ideal  ballot  gives  at  once  and  altogether,  all  the  advan- 


PEIKCIPLE   OF   VOTES. 

tages  of  all  possible  improved  plans  of  voting,  whether  by  con 
stituencies,  or  by  representative  bodies.  All  the  other  proposed 
improvements  are  valuable,  only  in  proportion  as  they  practi 
cally  approximate  the  same  results  as  this,  or  else,  as  they  may 
tend  to  prepare  for  and  lead  to  its  adoption.  This  most  general 
formula  for  a  ballot,  namely,  our  ideal  ballot,  is  one  which 
expresses  all  the  following  principles  at  once : 

((a))  Applicability  to  any  number  of  persons,  for  one  office  or 
board  of  officers,  whether  one  or  many. — ((6))  Expressive  of 
alternate  choices,  and  of  the  degrees  thereof,  both  as  to  candi 
dates  and  as  to  PARTIES. — ((c))  There  are  here  supposed  to  be 
only  such  legal  restrictions  to  its  absolute  unlimitedness,  in  re 
spect  both  to  choices  and  to  the  degrees  thereof,  as  are  necessary 
for  practical  convenience  of  counting ;  and  therefore  applicable 
to  exclude  any  immense  count  of  useless  scattered  ballots.  No 
other  restrictions  are  now  made  than  are  thus  or  otherwise  sc!en- 
tifically  expressed. — ((dj)  Restriction  c  to  a.  Let  each  voter 
vote  for  not  more,  say,  than  five  alternate  choices  when  for  one 
officer, — four  alternates,  for  two, — three  alternates,  for  three  or 
more  officers  to  be  elected  in  a  board. — ((e))  But  no  voter  need 
vote  all  the  number  allowed  him,  unless  he  chooses  to,  but 
should  never  vote  less  than  three  alternates,  nor  ever  more  than 
ten  alternates,  except  when  a  board  of  more  than  five,  and  then 
two  alternates  for  each  officer. — ((/))  All  the  expressions  must  be 
placed  on  one  ballot  paper, — whether  for  a  board  of  officers,  or 
for  only  one  officer. — ((g))  Restrictions  c  and  d  to  b.  Let  the 
highest  grades  of  alternates  be,  say  100,  and  let  the  lowest  grades 
of  alternates  be  never  less,  say,  than  50.  And  let  the  voter  at 
will,  divide  all  the  grades  of  his  alternates  between  100  and  50. 

((/i))  Illustration.  Case  d-e-f.  Suppose  for  one  officer.  Each 
ballot  would  contain  five  names.  Then  a  voter's  first  choice 
would  be  100,  his  second  perhaps  might  be  90,  his  third  might 
be  80,  his  fourth,  75,  and  his  fifth  70, — or  with  differences 
whether  fixed  by  law  or  not,  any  how,  so  the  fifth  choice  was 
not  less  than  50. — ((£))  Illustration.  Case  d-e-f.  Suppose  for  a 
board  of  five  officers.  Then  each  voter  has  the  privilege  of  his 
highest  number,  namely,  10  names  on  his  ballot. — ((j))  But  if 
voters  would  write  no  more  than  five  or  six  names,  this  omission 
would  have  the  same  effect  as  (but  no  other  effect  on  the  names 


BK.  I.      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  XII. 

omitted  than)  if  the  voter  had  remained  away  from  the  polls,  as 
to  those  names. 

((&))  If  three  parties  were  up,  and  if  each  voter  would  vote 
for  two  persons  of  eaph  party,  then  the  sample  ticket  Avould 
represent  a  case  of  a  voter  grading  ALTERNATIVE  PARTIES,  as 
well  as  grading  alternative  candidates. 

((I))  Now,  the  summing  up  of  these  grade  numbers  of  all  the 
candidates  would  represent  numerically,  the  comparative  total 
grade  values  of  all  the  candidates. — ((m))  In  the  case  of  election 
of  one  officer,  the  one  highest  total  in  I  would  be  the  one  suc 
cessful  candidate. — ((n))  In  case  of  several  officers  being  voted 
for,  as  one  board,  say  five,  then  the  highest  five  totals  in  I  would 
be  the  five  successful  candidates. 

(2)  Ideal  Ballot  for  ideas.  The  same  principles  which  have 
been  given  above,  for  voting  for  individuals,  are  also  applicable 
to  voting  for  Jaws,  clauses  of  laws,  motions,  amendments,  &c., 
&c.  But  the  methods  of  and  the  restrictions  in  their  applica 
tion  thus  to  ideas,  are  among  the  highest  and  latest  attainments 
of  forms  in  Social  Science.  They  will  be  treated  of  in  a  sub 
sequent  work,  under  the  head  of  "  Civil  Government." 

CHAP.  XII.   PRINCIPLE   OF   CURRENCY. 

Another  transcendental  use  of  averages  is,  their  ability  to 
express  the  true  principle  of  currency;  and  their  consequent 
applicability  as  an  actual  basis  for  the  only  currency  that  ever 
can  approximate  to  honesty  and  flexibility  both  ways,  or  to  per 
manent  security.  We  can  only  here  hint  at  this  basis ;  and  post 
pone  the  methods  of  its  application,  and  the  arguments  for  its 
propriety,  to  a  subsequent  work.  Well  then,  this  proposed  cur 
rency,  first  must  not  falsify, — must  promise  to  give  nothing  but 
what  it  can  and  will  give  when  demanded ;  and  second  must 
promise  to  give  a  portion  of  all  the  commodities  usually  bought 
or  sold  in  trade.  Because  every  sale  of  any  article  possessed  by 
us,  is  essentially  an  exchange  of  some  one  article  for  the  privi 
lege  of  reinvesting  the  same  in  ANY  OTHER  article ;  and  this 
requires  that  the  said  privilege  should  be  represented  by  an 
abstract  currency,  but  yet  one  that  can  always  and  at  once  be 
m;ule  concrete  at  the  option  of  the  holder.  The  element  of 
AVERAGES  in  this  currency  is  transcendental,  yet  theoretically 


PRINCIPLE   OF   CURRENCY.  119 

absolute,  and  consists  in  this,  that  the  trade  transactions  in  each 
one  commodity  during  a  long  average  time,  are  considered  as  one 
element  of  those  constituting  the  idea  of  the  currency.  And  the 
commodities  and  their  proportions  are  selected  with  a  view  to 
represent  fairly,  the  collective  average  of  the  different  commodi 
ties — by  averages  taken  separately  for  the  same  fair  length  of 
time.  And  such  a  collective  average  must  (just  as  in  the  case 
of  votes)  be  the  true  total  average  of  the  commodities  bought 
and  sold.  And  then  a  convenient  amount  of  that  average  .of 
commodities  could  be  'taken  as  the  unit  (instead  of  pollar  or 
Pound),  and  then  convenient  fractions  of  that  must  be  taken 
for  smaller  amounts.  But  of  course  in  practice,  only  a  certain 
select  number  of  commodities  could  be  taken,  but  fairly,  so  as  to 
represent  the  whole — these  representative  commodities  could  be 
taken  in  the  practical  application  for  a  real  and  actual  currency. 

Every  currency  that  redeems  promises  to  pay  one  thing  by 
paying  another  thing,  or  by  promises  to  pay  another,  and  so  on, 
can  be  nothing  but  a  vicious  gas  for  ballooning  out  into  the 
unfathomable  regions  of  financial  space,  unless  somewhere  at  the 
bottom  or  end  of  the  promise  upon  promise,  there  be  a  some 
thing  real  and  unalterable.  And  furthermore,  every  step  of 
promise  upon  promise,  complicates  the  matter  almost  indefi 
nitely,  both  as  to  the  ability  of  the  human  mind  to  comprehend 
its  chances,  and  also  complicates  almost  indefinitely  the  opportu 
nities  of  the  currency  law-makers  to  "see-saw"  it  to  suit  them 
selves,  and  with  injury  and  injustice  to  a  whole  community. 

Another  point  is  that  the  amount  of  silver  and  gold  is  not  a 
tenth  nor  perhaps  a  hundredth  part  sufficient  to  meet  the  de 
mands  made  for  it  in  crises  and  panics ;  and  the  sticklers  for  a 
purely  gold  and  silver  currency  can  never  do  any  better  with 
this  part  of  the  argument  than  to  say  that  such  a  currency  is 
the  best  that  can  be  established.  But,  is  it  the  best  ? 

Now  the  seemingly  probable  expedient  to  avoid  the  difficulty, 
is  to  introduce  the  function  of  time  and  credit,  and  to  give  all 
currency-promises  a  right  to  require  some  specific  time  of  notice 
before  payment  can  be  demanded.  But  suppose,  when  the  time 
of  payment  comes,  the  old  panic  still  continues  or  a  new  one 
arises,  what  becomes  of  this  probable  expedient  ?  Another  ex 
tension  (called  suspension)  ?  And  another?  And  so  on?  Thus 


120  BK-  I-      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  XII. 

we  see  our  balloon  gas  has  only  changed  its  form.  Previously 
it  consisted  in  piling  promise  upon  promises,  now  it  consists  in 
piling  time  upon  time. 

But  a  currency  of  commodities,  taking  a  sufficient  number  of 
plentiful  commodities,  would  always  allow  of  redemption  at  the 
option  of  the  holder.  One  objection  is  that  commodities  are  in 
convenient  to  carry,  and  may  not  be  the  ones  we  happen  to  want. 
This  objection  is  easily  removed  in  the  present  state  of  civiliza 
tion  and  credit,  by  warehouses,  and  by  pledges  of  actual  stocks 
of  goods.  And  surely  a  credit  system  that  can  be  trusted  to 
make  irredeemable  currencies,  or  to  make  extensions  and  post 
ponements  at  willy  can  be  better  trusted  to  make  a  credit  cur 
rency  based  upon  commodities  demandable  at  will.  As  to  the 
other  objection  of  fluctuations  and  scarcity  of  some  kinds  of 
goods  at  certain  times;  this  would  be  overcome  by  taking  a 
large  variety  of  the  commodities  most  used,  and  of  standard 
mercantile  qualities.  Suppose  some  thirty  different  articles  were 
selected,  as  Wheat,  Rye,  Corn,  Iron,  Lead,  Copper  and  so  on. 
Then  if  any  one  or  two  of  these  happened  to  be  unusually  scarce 
when  panic  came,  or  payment  was  demanded,  let  the  payor  have 
the  privilege  of  objecting  and  excepting  to  said  one  or  two  ar 
ticles,  and  then  let  the  payee  have  also  the  privilege  to  except  to 
an  equal  amount  in  value  of  any  other  articles  he  might  select 
as  being  unusually  plenty.  Thus  the  average  would  be  main 
tained.  The  proportioned  values  for  such  purposes  would  have 
to  be  fixed  when  the  currency  itself  was  established.  And  let 
NO  ALTERATION  of  the  currency  be  made  except  by  an  altera 
tion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Precinct  or  Nation ;  and  only  by 
the  constitution  let  such  a  currency  be  established. 

The  unit  should  be  taken  as  near  the  value  of  a  gold  coin 
dollar  as  may  be  convenient,  and  then  the  constitution  should 
settle  the  exact  value  of  the  dollar  in  comparison  with  the  new 
unit  of  averages.  Then  whilst  the  standard  was  fixed  in  the 
constitution,  the  details  might  be  left  to  ordinary  legislation  but 
requiring  perhaps  a  two-third  vote  for  alterations  even  thereby. 
And  after  the  relation  of  the  dollar  to  the  unit  of  averages  had 
been  fixed,  then  part  of  the  Real  Estate  and  surplus  old  stocks 
and  loans  of  corporations,  held  by  the  banks,  or  part  of  their 
fixed  capital  above  what  they  had  loaned  out  for  the  component 


PRINCIPLE   OF   CURRENCY.  121 

articles  of  the  averages,  might  be  allowed  by  an  alteration  of  the 
constitution,  to  enter  into  a  new  and  enlarged  list  of  components 
but  unaltered  in  average  value.  Then  first  class  Rail  Road 
mortgage  bonds,  as  also  national  state  and  municipal  bonds,  thus 
translated  into  the  new  units  of  currency  averages,  might  be 
allowed  to  form  a  small  or  reasonable  part  of  the  banking  basis. 

Or  it  would  be  possible  to  make  all  these  changes  by  one 
alteration  of  the  constitution,  if  it  could  be  done  fairly  so  as  not 
to  make  it  a  subterfuge  to  debase  or  alter  the  real  value  of  the 
currency-units.  This  transition  itself  would  not  be  more  dan 
gerous  than  the  present  system,  nor  than  the  old  system  of  state 
banks. 

And  it  would  be  better  to  make  the  whole  change  at  once 
perhaps,  so  as  not  to  entirely  throw  out  the  government  bonds 
that  are  now  the  basis  of  banking.  Indeed  the  very  same 
amount  of  government  bonds  that  are  now  required  as  security, 
ought  and  might  continue  to  be  required.  Our  whole  proposed 
change  refers  not  at  all  to  the  bonds  as  security,  but  only  to  the 
substitution  of  pledges  of  commodities  instead  of  the  artificial 
present  legal  tenders  and  bank  notes.  And  it  would  not  be  right 
to  release  all  those  bonds  at  once  and  have  them  thrown  on  the 
market  at  a  ruinous  reduction,  which  would  at  once  spread  dis 
tress  and  ruin  throughout  the  country,  and  only  to  the  benefit 
of  foreign  purchasers. 

The  reader  understands  that  all  bonds  would  then  be  estimated 
for  any  and  all  purposes,  at  and  only  at  their  value  in  the  new 
units  of  the  currency  averages. 

It  is  also  understood  that  no  property  or  commodity  pledged 
as  the  basis  of  currency,  should  be  sold  or  removed  unless  by 
substitution  of  some  other  lots  of  the  same  kind  and  amount,  or 
by  repayment  and  withdrawal  of  that  much  currency.  Such  a 
currency,  in  effect  would  be  simply  "  orders"  for  goods  in  such 
kinds  and  proportions  that  everybody  would  want  them,  and 
everybody  could  readily  convert  them  into  the  particular  com 
modity  wanted. 

All  is  made  both  convenient  and  practicable,  by  the  introduc 
tion  of  systems  of  warehouses,  and  by  giving  the  new  system  to 
banks  based  upon  warehouse  and  other  commercial  contracts  for 
commodities  actually  in  store,  whether  in  public  or  in  Individual's 


122  BK-  L      SUMMARY  INTRODUCTION.      II.  XII. 

own  warehouse.  And  what  such  banks  would  promise  to  pay 
would  be  certain  definite  quantities  in  the  prescribed  ratios  of 
each  of  the  kinds  of  commodities  previously  prescribed,  when 
demanded  in  certain  specified  amounts :  having  previously  issued 
out  or  loaned  these  currency  averages  in  agreed  amounts,  for  any 
of  the  component  specified  commodities,  or  rather  for  pledges  by 
the  customer,  of  the  certificates  of  warehouse  for  the  same,  as 
might  be  agreed  upon. 

There  would  also  surely  arise  a  class  of  dealers,  some,  mer 
chants,  and  some,  brokers,  who  would  deal  exclusively  or  very 
specially,  in  only  those  articles  which  were  required  in  the 
Averages.  And  some  of  these  would  be  wholesalers,  and  some 
retailers.  And  to  these  each  Individual  customer  could  bring 
in  his  currency,  and  obtain  only  just  the  one  or  two  articles  that 
he  wanted, — and  thus  obtain  them  at  only  the  usual  and  regular 
market  price,  and  without  any  loss.  But  in  case  of  panic  before 
the  arising  of  such  a  class  of  dealers,  of  course,  holders  of  small 
amounts  of  currency  would  have  to  sell  it  to  brokers  or  mer 
chants,  who  would  thereby  accumulate  the  required  amounts  for 
presentation  for  payment.  But  the  details  must  be  reserved  for 
the  proper  place  in  "  Property,"  one  of  our  proposed  future  works 
on  Social  Science. 

The  only  fluctuations  or  discount,  such  a  currency  would  be 
capable  of,  would  be  the  aforesaid  brokers'  charges  for  buying 
up  small  amounts  to  consolidate ;  and  the  slight  expenses  of  the 
charges  and  freights  to  near  places  deemed  more  safe ;  and  the 
difference  between  the  quality  of  the  commodities  which  the 
banks  would  really  pay,  and  what  the  knowing  ones  would 
expect,  and  that  would  not  be  much,  for  whatever  difference  in 
quality  they  would  previously  expect,  would  be  the  permanent 
depreciation  of  it,  and  not  the  expense  of  redemption. 

CHAP.  XIII.    CONCLUSION   OF   INTRODUCTION. 

The  objection  is  often  made  against  Social  Scientists,  that  there 
is  no  practical  use  in  their  kind  of  discussions,  and  no  hope  that 
any  special  attention  will  ever  practically  be  given  to  their  con 
clusions. 

We  answer,  that  this  question  of  practicability  depends  entirely 
upon  what  the  particular  plans  are  that  may  be  offered,  and  in 


CONCLUSION  OF  INTRODUCTION.  123 

what  spirit.  If  good  plansiaad  sound  arguments  can  be  offered, 
in  a  good  spirit,  their  practicability  will  depend  on  the  intelli 
gence,  patriotism  and  justice  of  the  people.  Under  such  circum 
stances,  to  doubt  the  practicability  of  the  suggestions  if  good 
ones,  is  to  doubt  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  people. 
And  when  once  any  plans  began  to  be  tried  in  one  or  two 
localities,  and  were  found  to  produce,  in  a  pre-eminent  degree, 
the  benefits  expected  from  them ;  then  to  doubt  their  adoption 
more  and  more  by  the  people,  would  manifest  a  deeper  infi 
delity  in  the  fitness  of  the  people  for  self-government,  than 
would  be  worth  while  to  argue  against,  in  the  United  States. 
Where  would  be  the  fitness  of  a  people  for  self-government,  if 
they  were  going  to  be  forever  insensible  to  the  demonstrations 
of  sound  arguments  confirmed  by  undoubted  experience;  and 
if  truth  and  justice  must  never  dare  to  show  their  faces  until 
after  their  practicability  is  shown  ? 

Besides ;  the  World  is  wide ;  and  there  are  other  peoples  in  it 
beside  those  of  the  United  States.  And  in  these  higher  prob 
lems  of  Social  Science,  there  can  and  will  be  emulation  among 
Nations,  as  well  as,  and  perhaps  sooner  than  between  the  Pre 
cincts  of  the  same  Nation. 

The  suggestions  of  Social  Science  are  sometimes  alleged  to  be 
impracticable,  because  not  put  forth  by  any  great  politician  or 
political  party.  But  that  was  equally  true  once,  of  every  re 
form  that  has  ever  been  accomplished.  Reforms  begin  in  moral 
powers,  but  after  being  morally  successful,  they  are  adopted  by 
political  parties, — by  one  party  or  by  several.  Those  who  are 
best  to  think,  are  not  the  best  to  act. 

Moreover,  scarcely  anything  can  be  more  censurable,  than  this 
habit  of  always  crying  out  at  every  suggestion  of  improvement, 
— impracticable !  impracticable  !  Would  it  not  be  better  for  our 
"  wiseacres"  to  spend  their  energies  in  the  consideration  of  prin 
ciples,  and  of  what  things  would  be  useful,  and  how  to  make 
them  practicable, — rather  than  in  this  eternal  speculation  about 
what  will  be  successful  ?  And  hardly  any  minor  matter  hinders 
improvement  so  much  as  this  eternally  choking  down  every 
thought  of,  and  every  aspiration  for,  something  better, — under 
the  chilling  contempt  of  impracticable  !  impracticable. 

And  after  all,  we  beg  to  remind  our  readers,  that  we  have 


124  BK-  L      SUMMARY   INTRODUCTION.      II.  XIII. 

very  little  concern  about  practicability.  The  law  of  right,  as 
Spencer  says,  will  not  be  still  npfr  be  altered,  by  our  imperfec 
tions,  or  present  inability  to  fulfill  it.  Our  business  is  to  endeavor 
to  study  out  what  is  right,  and  what  ought  to  be ;  and  then  to 
leave  practicabilities  to  Time,  to  God,  and  to  the  statesmen, — 
deeply  feeling  however,  that  all  that  moralists  can  do  in  regard 
to  men  individually  or  govern  mentally,  is  to  point  out  and 
urge  upon  them,  their  duties,  and  then  pray  for  them  :  and  those 
societies  which  after  all,  will  not  do  the  good,  will  certainly  reap 
the  evil,  socially  as  well  as  individually.  Social  Science  pro 
poses  to  accomplish  its  good  effects,  only  indirectly.  In  this 
respect  it  is  like  the  relation  of  Theology  to  piety.  Nothing 
but  the  Divine  spirit,  working  in  the  patriotism  and  equity  of 
the  people,  can  peacefully  develop  the  powers  which  would  be 
able  and  willing  to  accomplish  thorough  reforms. 

There  are  many  other  points  that  might  have  been  touched 
upon  in  this  Introduction,  but  we  have  endeavored  all  along,  to 
defer  them  to  their  respective  places  in  the  subsequent  parts,  and 
to  retain  in  the  Introduction  only  such  thoughts  as  are  either  too 
general,  or  too  complex,  to  find  appropriate  places  anywhere 
else.  Hence  its  parts  sometimes  may  have  seemed  fragmentary. 
And  so  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  ideas  that  have  been  set  forth 
in  the  Introduction,  but  few  will  be  touched  upon  in  the  remain 
ing  parts,  and  but  seldom, — except  when  giving  them  as  the 
topics  of  further  elucidation. 


BOOK   II. 

THE    PKEOINCT. 


PART    I. 

GENERAL    VIEW    OF    THE    THEORY    OF    THE 
PRECINCT. 

CHAP.  I.     PREFACE. 

IN"  order  now  to  understand  our  idea  of  a  Precinct,  all  the 
usual  legal  idea  and  identification  of  Precinct  with  Corporation, 
must  be  entirely  banished  and  annulled.  And  almost  every 
thing  that  a  Corporation  is,  a  Precinct,  according  to  our  theory, 
is  NOT.  See  Corporation  I.  (A)  &  II.  1. 1  to  Y.  But  a  Pre 
cinct  is  as  much  a  fundamental  Element  or  Unit  of  society,  as 
Individual  or  as  Family  or  as  Nation.  Furthermore,  in  order 
to  get  the  true  idea  of  a  Precinct,  we  must  presuppose  a  general 
knowledge  of  the  Individual,  the  Family  and  the  Social  Circle; 
which  Elements,  for  convenience'  sake,  we  postpone  the  consid 
eration  of  for- the  present. 

Precincts  are  neighborhoods  organized  into  civil  governments ; 
they  are  territories  within  territories ;  they  are  parts  of  a  tribe 
or  Nation,  and  are  not  self-existent.  In  other  words,  Precincts 
are  the  organizations  of  the  neighborhood  principle,  in  civil 
government.  They  might  be  compared  with  the  "  states"  of  the 
American  Union,  by  calling  them  very  small  and  REFORMED 
"states." 

The  Precinct  is  the  fourth  fundamental  Element  or  "person 
ality"  of  society,  as  determined  in  our  Analytics.  It  is  also  the 
fourth  UNIT  as  mentioned  in  the  ascending  series  of  the  six 
great  Units.  That  series  is  thus :  Individual,  Family,  Social 
Circle,  Precinct,  Nation,  Mankind. 

But  Precinct  must  be  completely  distinguished  (in  oar  theory) 
from  Corporation,  which  is  of  a  different  genus,  and  is  the 

125 


126  BK.  II.      PRECIXCT.      1.  II. 

seventh  Element  of  the  Analytics.  Yet  Corporation  is  ever 
tending  towards  becoming  a  Unit,  that  is  to  say,  a  fundamental 
element,  but  yet  cannot  be  assumed  to  be  entirely  fundamental, 
at  least  this  early  in  the  science,  nor  this  early  in  the  progress  of 
the  human  race. 

As  was  said  before,  the  Tribe-principle  of  human  society,  is, 
in  the  early  ages,  undeveloped  and  unanalyzed ;  but  in  the  later 
ages,  this  Tribe-principle  develops  into  heterogeneity,  and  takes 
three  distinct  forms,  namely,  Social  Circle,  Precinct,  and  Corpo 
ration.  The  Precinct  therefore,  is  a  fundamental  element  both 
.of  Developed  Society  and  of  the  Tribe-principle. 

Of  our  great  six  Units  of  society,  only  two  are  political  in  the 
full  sense  of  the  term,  namely,  Precinct  and  Nation.  Of  these 
two,  which  may  therefore  be  called  the  fundamental  political 
elements  of  society,  the  lowest,  or  the  first  one  in  order,  is  the 
Precinct,  namely,  the  element  now  immediately  before  us.  Again, 
of  these  six  Units,  three  are  Units  of  Locality,  namely,  Pre 
cinct,  Nation,  and  Mankind;  and  of  these  three,  Precinct  of 
course  is  the  smallest  and  lowest.  To  determine  the  size  of  the 
Locality  and  the  extent  of  the  population  of  a  Precinct,  are 
problems  attempted  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  article.  But 
an  exact  definition  of  a  "Precinct"  in  our  theory,  cannot  be 
given  intelligibly,  without  further  knowledge  of  the  theory  itself. 

We  will  now  give ; — First :  A  general  view  of  the  Theory 
of  the  Precinct.  Second :  Some  special  Arguments  for  this 
Theory.  Third  :  A  conclusion  pointing  towards  some  partial 
Practical  applications  of  the  Theory,  possible  in,  (without  an 
alteration  of  the  Constitution  of,)  the  United  States. 

CHAP.  II.      HISTORICAL    STATEMENT. 

§  1 .  In  General  History. 

The  history  of  states  and  Nations  in  a  living  progression, 
constantly  tends  to  meet  the  changing  problems  of  a  larger  popu 
lation,  for  the  same  territory  and  for  the  same  representation. 
And  this  produces  fundamental  changes  of  some  of  the  princi 
ples  and  rights  of  the  governments  themselves.  And  the  great 
est  cause  or  source  of  social  and  political  evils,  is,  adhering  to 
"worn  out"  systems,  whose  utility  is  more  and  more  passing 
away  by  the  merely  natural  growth  of  society  itself. 


HISTORICAL   STATEMENT.  127 

Non-subdivision  for  fundamental  Units,  and  especially  for 
Precincts,  seems  to  us  to  be  the  greatest  general  cause  of  social 
decay. 

The  decay  of  Nations  in  general,  it  is  true,  is  attributed  to 
various  causes :  but  writers  seem  to  have  passed  by  with  little  or 
no  attention,  that  great  cause  which  has  operated  in  and  over 
all  the  others. 

At  the  spontaneous  origin  and  foundation  of  government,  we 
find  the  separate  Localities  or  Precincts  to  have  great  power 
within  themselves  and  over  their  own  territories.  But  in  the 
course  of  time,  population  increases,  Precincts  which  had  small 
populations  come  to  have  large.  Thus  it  follows,  that  laws 
which  were  suitable  for  the  former,  are  no  longer  suitable  for 
the  latter;  the  country  and  the  government  become  rife  with 
cruelty  and  corruption;  new  and  more  stringent  laws  are  added, 
in  the  vain  hope  of  stemming  the  tide  of  new  evils.  Also,  old 
and  bad  laws  which  could  not  be  enforced  at  all,  because  of  the 
sparseness  of  population  and  its  uncivilized  independence,  and 
whose  crudity  was  balanced  by  their  impracticability, — now  be 
come  practicable  against  honest  and  orderly  citizens,  and  become 
enforced  against  them  ;  whilst  the  dishonest,  the  disorderly  and 
those  who  still  continue  uncivilized  in  heart,  escape.  Thus  vice 
is  rewarded,  and  honesty  and  virtue  punished ;  and  thus,  classes 
of  outlaws  are  fostered  and  nourished  in  the  midst  of  civiliza 
tion. — Then,  more  laws  are  tried,  and  laws  are  heaped  upon 
laws;  as  the  Precincts,  now  called  states,  become  more  and  more 
populous. 

The  state,  in  each  case  at  first,  is  merely  a  little  band  of  ac 
quaintances.  But  gradually  the  population  increases,  the  "state" 
becomes  a  great  and  complex  political  body;  it  never  subdivides, 
but  the  overgrown  and  .still  growing  enormous  complexity,  and 
distant  and  unfeeling  organization,  still  continues  to  regard  itself 
as  the  fit  source  of  all  absolutism,  and  the  fountain  of  all  civil 
power.  For  convenience'  sake  to  be  sure,  counties  and  townships 
are  organized ;  but  not  as  subdivisions  of  the  state,  or  of  the 
original  fountains  of  right,  but  only  as  mere  organs  of  the  over 
grown  state,  and  dependent  upon  the  absolute  will  of  the  great 
power,  as  to  every  thing  IT  chooses  to  exercise  that  power  for. 

All  the  while,  the  simple  common  sense  expedient  is  over- 


128  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      I.  II. 

looked, — of  merely  dividing  and  subdividing  the  states,  as  fast 
as  necessary  to  keep  pace  with  the  increase  in  the  numbers  of, 
and  also  with  the  increase  in  the  density  of,  the  population. 
For,  simple  increase  in  density  of  population,  increases  the  op 
portunities  both  to  conceal  crimes  and  to  commit  them ;  and 
hence,  as  the  population  increases  at  one  rate,  the  subdivisions 
should  increase  at  a  greater  rate, — thus,  to  counteract  the  in 
creased  facilities  for  evil,  made  numerous,  partly  by  mere  density 
and  its  attendant  subdivision  of  occupation,  and  partly  by  mere 
numbers ;  the  necessity  caused  by  competition,  of  each  one's  at 
tending  more  and  more  exclusively  to  his  own  business,  and  con 
sequently  neglecting  public  affairs  and  general  culture ;  and  the 
necessarily  increasing  ignorance  as  to  the  character  of  the  indi 
viduals,  and  as  to  the  secret  aims  and  motives  of  the  various 
politicians  and  their  parties. 

If  now,  on  the  other  hand,  the  subdivision  into  new  states 
had  more  than  kept  pace  with  the  increase  of  population,  and 
had  also  been  regulated  in  proportion  to  increased  density,  then 
the  natural  ingenuity  of  men  would  have  devised  practical  and 
successful  methods,  ever  new,  and  ever  varying,  as  might  be 
necessary,  to  counteract  the  new  and  old  evils  aiming  to  grow 
up  or  to  hide  themselves  in  the  new  phenomena  of  progressive 
society  and  advancing  civilization. 

This  subdivision  of  Precincts  (or  states)  is  just  as  necessary 
as  the  subdivision  of  Families.  Here  again  the  Family  is  the 
type  of  society.  And  we  notice  this  to  be  the  case,  even  in  the 
peculiar  points  relating  to  density  and  to  advanced  civilization. 
In  the  early  stages  of  society  we  find  married  children  remain 
ing  with  their  parents,  and  the  Family  consisting  of  two  or 
more  sets  of  sub-Families,  and  quite  numerous;  but  as  the  num 
bers  and  density  increase,  this  complication  of  the  Family  be 
comes  less  and  less  frequent^  but  gradually,  the  formation  of 
every  new  Family,  or  even  the  attainment  to  maturity  without 
marriage,  causes  men,  as  they  become  able,  to  go  out  and  form 
new  Families  or  new  social  connections  of  some  kind.  Thus, 
the  natural  history  of  the  Family,  typifies  what  that  of  the  Pre 
cinct  ought  to  be. 

§  2.  In  United-States-History. 

The  average  population  of  each  of  the  states,  at  the  time  of 


HISTORICAL   STATEMENT.  129 

the  American  Revolution,  was  not  greater  than  250,000.  Sev 
eral  had  but  70,000.  The  present  average  is  over  one  million 
(1,000,000).  Some,  as  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  &c.,  have 
from  three  to  five  millions.  And  the  course  of  things  has  the 
same  bad  tendency. 

The  population  of  an  average  congressional  district  is  at  pres 
ent  about  150,000,  and  will  increase;  because  the  number  of 
representatives  is  limited  by  the  nature  of  things.  Contrast 
these  numbers  with  the  numbers  represented  in  the  early  stages 
of  our  Republic,  and  we  find  that  now,  each  representative  dis 
trict  contains  about  ten  times  the  number  of  persons  it  then  did. 

And  furthermore,  considering  affairs  within  the  Precinct,  we 
remember  that  some  of  the  little  colonies  of  America,  settled  by 
our  forefathers,  and  consisting  of  only  a  few  hundreds  of  in 
habitants  to  each,  were  carefully  and  well  managed,  by  the  prin 
ciple  of  direct  Democracy,  and  the  submission  of  the  laws  to  the 
direct  vote  of  the  people,  who  all  resided  within  convenient  dis 
tance  of  each  other.  Thus  our  constitutions  were  made,  only 
providing  for  states  with  populations  of  an  average  of  only 
about  70,000,  and  they  a  scattered  plain  industrious  country 
people,  living  close  to  nature  and  to  social  realities,  and  not  used 
to  "  shams."  But  now  the  states  have  become  so  large  that  the 
citizens  cannot  possibly  have  any  intimate  knowledge  of,  nor 
much  feeling  of  intimacy  towards,  each  other.  Yet  we  ignore 
the  fundamental  changes  involved,  we  give  the  same  rights  to 
these  larger  bodies  that  the  smaller  originally  possessed ;  and 
this,  without  the  knowledge,  the  neighborly  feeling,  the  mutual 
observations,  or  the  sincere  naturalness,  inseparable  from  small 
country  populations  and  communities  living  and  working  in 
close  neighborhood. 

The  states  and  their  constitutions  were  originally  reactions 
against  civil,  feudal,  and  religious  tyranny.  And  against  ab 
sentee  government, — so  generally  wor°se  than  a  present  govern 
ment.  The  settlements  also  had  a  peculiar  origin,  having  been 
made  chiefly  by  peculiar  classes,  viz. : — adventurers  for  gold, 
persecuted  religious  sects,  &c. 

And  subsequently  to  the  revolutionary  war,  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  was  itself  an  apparently  necessary  reaction 
against  entirely  indep ende-.it  and  quarreling  states  ;  not  necessa- 

9 


130  BK>  IL      PRECINCT.      I.  II. 

rily  confederated  too  little,  but  without  power  to  administer  their 
confederation-laws  AT  ALL.  This  reaction,  like  the  reactions 
of  society  generally,  is  an  extreme.  It  has  failed  in  what  it 
sought,  namely,  the  permanency  of  Union  without  internal  war. 
But,  the  consolidation  or  centralization  which  it  shunned,  is 
coming  upon  us  by  the  natural  growth  of  so  large  a  body,  and 
by  the  necessary  circumstances  of  purchasing  new  territory,  and 
maintaining  the  Union  by  war,  and  the  extreme  reactionaiy 
theories  consequent  thereupon. 

The  rights  of  Precincts  are  inalienable  in  principle,  and  un 
quenchable  in  feeling.  And  the  violation  thereof  is  almost  sure 
sooner  or  later  to  bring  bloodshed.  The  real  cause  of  the 
American  Rebellion,  was  a  neglect  of  Precinct  and  corporation 
rights  by  both  North  and  South.  The  Northern  free-men 
WOULD  go  among  slaves  and  preach  insubordination ;  and  the 
Southerners  demanded  to  go  and  to  take  their  slaves  with  them 
any  where  they  pleased.  It  was  not  the  demand  of  the  South 
erners  to  take  their  slaves  to  the  new  territories,  but  the  claim 
to  go  North  to  arrest  fugitives,  and  even  to  take  the  slaves  with 
them  through  and  into  the  free  North,  that  really  "fired  the 
Northern  heart." 

These  views  might,  at  one  time,  have  seemed  to  imply  a  vain 
claim  of  every  little  Precinct  to  "  secede."  But  now,  the  con 
trary  doctrine  being  settled  by  war,  makes  this  question  less 
difficult.  The  arrangement  into  small  states,  such  as  our  theory 
proposes,  would  have  prevented  any  great  attempt  at  secession ; 
and  the  present  "  United  States,"  if  organized  into  very  much 
smaller  states,  would  make  even  the  IDEA  of  "  State-Right  Se 
cession"  quite  preposterous.  And  the  smaller  the  Precincts  are 
made,  the  more  preposterous  would  be  such  a  claim.  But  this 
subject  is  considered  subsequently  in  this  book. 

The  real  justification  for  interference  by  the  Nation,  with  the 
affairs  of  the  Slave-Precincts,  is  that  these  latter  totally  ignored 
'the  rights  of  the  colored  race  either  to  Precincts  or  to  Corpora 
tions.  I  mean  this  would  be  a  justification  in  time  of  peace, 


RELATIONS   TO   THE   SEVEN   ELEMENTS.  131 

CHAP.  III.      RELATIONS  TO  THE   OTHER   ELEMENTS   OF  THE 
ANALYTICS. 

§  1.  Relations  to  the  Six  Units. 

We  have  endeavored  in  the  Summary  Introduction,  to  estab 
lish  the  doctrine  that  there  are  six  natural  Units  or  measures  of 
right,  or  as  Mulford  might  call  them  "  Moral  personalities,"  in 
herent  in  the  constitution  of  society,  namely,  Individual,  Family, 
Social  Circle,  Precinct,  Nation  and  Mankind;  and  that  each 
unit  is  typical  of  all  those  above  it,  and  vice-versa.  Accordingly 
no  one  unit  has  any  such  superior  right  over  the  one  next  below 
it,  but  what  that  in  turn  has  a  similar  right  over  the  one  below 
IT  ;  and  so  on.  If  there  are  any  exceptions  to  this,  they  are  in 
favor  of  the  two  extreme  units,  namely,  one,  Mankind,  as  the 
whole  and  absolutely  the  superior ;  the  other,  the  Individual,  as 
the  ultimate  social  atom  not  capable  of  any  further  social  sub 
division.  Therefore  nationality  cannot  absorb  Precinct-rights, 
any  more  than  Family  can  absorb  Individual  rights,  or  any  one 
element  absorb  the  other's  rights.  It  is  therefore  error,  to  en 
deavor  as  some  do,  to  take  away  the  natural  rights  of  Precincts 
and  to  enumerate  them  as  if  they  were  mere  corporations,  and 
to  single  out  the  Nation  as  the  only  unit  having  real  and  original 
governmental  power.  Because  all  Precincts  are  "  free  and  equal" 
in  their  sphere,  as  Individuals  are  so,  or,  as  Nations  are. 

The  sovereignty  of  a  Nation  over  its  Precincts  consists,  not  in 
any  wizard  power  or  talis manic  right  of  the  idea,  Nation, — but 
simply  in  a  VASTLY  superior  DEGREE  of  power  over  the  same 
locality ;  hence,  of  the  same  sort  of  power,  and  with  the  same 
sort  of  right,  as  would  be  exercised  by  any  very  large,  say  Conti 
nental  Coalition  of  Nations.  We  have  had  foreshado wings  and 
intimations  of  such  coalitions  in  the  past  history  of  Europe, — but 
only  intimations.  The  empire  of  Russia  is  also  an  exhibit  of 
the  principle  in  a  more  permanent  form.  Degree  in  biology  and 
in  sociology  it  is  true,  (as  was  said  in  the  Introduction),  is  more 
important  than  kind.  But  in  this  case  it  is  also  true,  that  the 
KIND  of  power  which  Nation  exercises  over  Precinct^is  the. same 
as  Coalition,  Confederacy  or  Empire  exercises  over  Nation. 
And  the  vast  difference  in  the  DEGREE  of  power  between  the 
inferior  and  the  superior,  is  what  constitutes  the  right  in  each 
case,  and  therefore  Nation  cannot  plead  it,  as  against  Precinct. 


132  B.K-  II-      PRECINCT.      I.  III. 

We  may  add,  that  the  coalitions  and  empires  above  men 
tioned,  are  themselves,  to  the  Nations,  foreshadowings  and 
intimations  of  the  Unit  Mankind.  And,  should  the  time  ever 
arrive  when  Mankind  itself  would  form  into  a  Coalition  or 
Empire,  IT  would  exercise  much  more  power  ovQr  those  other 
Coalitions  and  Empires,  than  those  Coalitions  had  exercised 
over  Nations  (for  coalitions  are  not  Units),  and  would  exercise 
at  least  AS  much  power  and  right  over  the  Nations,  as  they  were 
doing  over  Precincts.  Whether  such  a  union  of  all  Mankind 
is  possible  or  not,  before  the  coming  of  that  Great  Man  "  who 
is  Lord  of  the  whole  earth,"  we  cannot  say,  but  suppose  not. 
Yet  the  reference  illustrates  the  principle. 

Again — as  to  the  relation  of  counties  and  townships  to  prov 
inces,  and  of  provinces  to  states,  and  of  states  to  Nations, — we 
may  derive  the  true  light  from  the  basis  of  our  fundamental 
analogy,  namely,  the  Family.  A  single  Family  occupies  »a 
certain  locality,  several  such  Families  form  a  neighborhood, 
several  neighborhoods  a  township,  and  so  on,  up  to  the  general 
Nation. 

We  cannot  find  here,  any  such  clumsy  arrangement  as  a  prov 
ince  a  State  or  a  Nation,  (that  is,  an  institution  nearly  at  the  end 
or  summit  of  the  political  scale),  being  regarded  as  the  foundation 
and  source  of  all  government  rights,  and  upon  which  all  others 
must  depend,  whether  above  it  or  below  it.  The  Family-analogy 
carried  out,  shows  us  that  what  are  called  "state-rights"  begin 
with  the  Family,  and  must  gradually  lessen  with  each  step  as 
you  go  up,  till  the  general  government  itself  is  reached.  In 
other  words  in  general,  each  neighborhood  must  have  the  same 
power  to  freely  fulfill  its  own  methods,  as  a  state  itself  has,  so 
far  as  consistent  with  the  rights  of  other  Precincts;  and  still 
more  generally  we  may  say,  that  such  are  all  the  rights  that  any 
state  has,  or  any  Nation,  or  even,  any  World. 

It  may  be  observed  that  largeness  of  power  in  Precincts,  by 
no  means  involves  the  theory  that  they  must  be  regarded  as  the 
superior  source  or  origin  of  governmental  powers.  For  instance, 
the  feudal  system,  in  its  origin,  most  clearly  and  fully  was  based 
upon  the  theory  that  all  power  descended  from  the  supreme  or 
national  government  downwards ;  and  yet,  it  gave  the  utmost 
amount  of  liberty  to  each  of  its  subdivisions  of  powers ;  so  that 


RELATIONS  TO  THE  SEVEN  ELEMENTS.         133 

the  inferior  was  only  required  to  make  acknowledgments  of  the 
inferiority,  and  to  aid  the  superior  in  war.  This  is  analogous  to 
the  Divine  Government  itself: — all  power  coming  down  from 
God  in  theory,  yet  the  utmost  liberty  is  given  to  the  Individual 
in  practice.  [Blackstone,  B.  I.  ch.  4.] 

But  of  course,  the  general  or  national  government  is  to  exercise 
the  same  restraining  power  over  Precincts,  that  it  does  over  In 
dividuals  ;  that  is,  power  restraining  them  from  trespassing  on 
the  rights  or  "  equal  liberty  of  other"  Precincts,  or  on  the  rights 
of  removal  of  all  Individuals  who  either  are  or  ought  to  be 
citizens  of  other  Precincts. 

The  Precinct  or  Neighborhood  principle,  is  the  main  modern 
enlargement  of  the  tribe-idea.  And  the  tribe-idea  is  originally 
the  essence  of  the  state.  A  familiar  example  is  found  in  the 
Scottish  Nation,  which  was  composed  of  many  clans,  each  having 
a  separate  government  under  its  chief,  although  they  were  sub 
servient  to  the  authority  of  their  king.  Tribes  then  are  the 
original  elements  of  Nations.  And  the  centralization  principle, 
carried  to  the  extreme  of  claiming  the  Nation  to  be  the  source 
of  civil  power,  is  the  result  merely  of  military  power  and 
monarchical  marriages.  (See  Paley's  Political  Philosophy,  Bk. 
6,  ch.  1.) 

Our  theory  is  not  at  all  the  theory  of  the  Paris  Communists; 
for  their  theory  ignores  the  elementary  necessity  of  the  Nation, 
and  desires  to  recognize  only  Precincts  confederated  throughout 
the  world,  independently  and  irrespectively  of  the  principle  of 
nationality.  Another  point  of  difference,  is,  that  the  Paris  Com- 
munisjts  ignore  the  elementary  character  of  the  Social  Circle, 
and  aim  to  destroy  all  such  circles.  Other  points  of  difference 
are,  that  the  Paris  Commune  ignores  the  elementary  character 
and  fundamental  rights  of  the  Individual  and  of  the  Family.  It 
denies  the  freedom  and  rights  of  Corporation.  It  also  ignores 
THE  DUTIES  of  Corporation,  and  the  intimate  relations  existing 
between  LARGE  cities  and  their  Nation,  as  pointed  out  in  an 
other  part  of  this  article  on  the  Precinct :  for  the  totality  of  a 
large  city  is,  in  essence,  a  national  corporation,  although  the 
separate  Precincts  of  which  a  city  consists  are  not  so.  Further 
more,  the  Paris  Commune  subverts  all  the  elements  of  society 
except  only  one,  namely,  an  iron  bound,  tyrannical  and  special 


134  BK-  II-      PRECINCT.      I.  III. 

form  of  the  Precinct.  Furthermore,  that  Commune  is  so  utterly 
at  variance  with  our  whole  theory,  scientifically,  metaphysically, 
morally  and  religiously,  as  scarcely  to  be  susceptible  even  of 
comparison  with  it. 

Our  theory  of  the  relation  of  Precincts  to  the  Nation,  namely, 
many  centers  instead  of  one,  is  the  same  principle  applied  to 
government,  which  Carey  applies  so  successfully  to  economy. 
Indeed,  his  system  of  decentralization  of  the  places  of  manu 
factures  and  commerce  and  intellect,  would  be  greatly  promoted 
by  ours,  of  decentralizing  the  places  of  government.  Never 
theless,  the  bases  of  the  two  theories  are  different :  his  basis,  is, 
upon  property  and  utility ;  ours,  is,  upon  personality  and  human 
rights. 

§  2.  Excess  of  centralization. 

A  work  has  lately  appeared  by  Mr.  E.  Mulford,  on  "The 
Nation."  Although  learned  and  conceived  in  an  Orthodox 
spirit,  and  having  a  similarly  high  moral  aim  as  our  work,  yet 
it  seems  to  ignore  the  fundamental  rights  of  the  Precinct.  It 
recognizes  but  one  political  unit  or  integer, — that  of  the  Nation. 
It  seems  in  some  places  to  use  the  word  commonwealth  in  a 
sense  approximating  that  of  our  word  Precinct.  It  maintains 
that  the  "  Nation  is  the  institution  of  rights/'  even  including  the 
right  of  property  therein,  (pp.  94  and  95.)  This  is  a  fearful 
"  variation"  on  Paley's  perverted  but  yet  general  assertion,  that 
the  foundation  of  the  right  of  property  (at  least  in  land)  is  "in 
the  law."  It  claims  a  right  of  the  Nation  to  interfere  even 
with  the  Family  relation  :  and  yet  it  says,  "  the  Family  exists 
in  an  organic  relation  to  the  Nation,"  (p.  284.)  And  yet  small 
as  the  rights  of  the  Family  are  admitted  to  be,  it  reduces  the 
rights  of  the  "commonwealth"  to  an  indefinitely  lower  degree. 
Thus  it  says,  "  In  the  processes  of  society,  the  Family  exists  in 
an  organic,  and  the  commonwealth  in  a  formal  relation  to  the 
Nation."  And  again,  in  table  of  contents  it  says,  "  the  com 
monwealth  is  the  civil  corporation."  And  again  (p.  307)  it 
says,  "  the  commonwealth  is  a  formal  organization." 

We  answer,  that  Mr.  Mulford  continually  through  the  work, 
confuses  the  idea  of  government,  with  that  particular  part  or 
organ  of  government  called  the  Nation,  and  claims  for  IT  all  the 
blessings  and  benefits  that  are  usually  claimed  for  any  depart- 


RELATIONS  TO  THE  SEVEN  ELEMENTS.         135 

ment  of  government.  Our  whole  work  and  general  theory  are 
so  very  different  from  his,  that  we  cannot  even  contrast  one  with 
the  other  in  any  better  way  than  by  saying,  that  ours  is  founded 
on  six  foundations,  and  his  on  only  one.  We  could  easily  prove 
that  all  he  says  of  the  substance  of  the  Nation,  is  equally  true 
of  the  substance  of  the  Precinct,  in  its  due  proportion.  (See  his 
first  chapter.)  We  argue  that  the  Precinct  also  "  is  founded  in 
the  nature  of  man,  is  a  relationship,  is  a  continuity,  is  an  or 
ganism,  is  a  conscious  organism,  is  a  moral  organism,  is  a  moral 
personality :"  and  all  quite  as  truly  so,  as  the  Nation. 

Mr.  Mulford's  theory  in  another  part-  is,  that  the  distinction 
between  the  rights  of  a  commonwealth  (or  Precin  -^  and  those 
of  the  Nation,  consists  in  this,  that  the  Nation  has  the  political, 
and  the  commonwealth  the  civil  rights.  But  what  is  the  guar 
antee  of  civil  rights,  when  political  rights  are  denied?  This 
question  may  be  asked,  as  well  where  the  rights  of  Precincts  are 
ignored,  as  where  those  of  individuals  are  so.  And  the  pre 
tence  that  civil  rights  are  sufficient  without  political  rights  to 
guarantee  them,  belongs  to  a  past  age.  Accordingly,  all  the 
military  rights  of  the  Precinct,  except  as  police,  are  ignored 
by  him :  thus  (p.  299)  he  says,  "  When  the  governor  is  repre 
sented  as  the  ( commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
commonwealth/  the  office  is  not  further  defined."  *  *  *  The 
title  he  says  "  is  a  name  for  which  there  is  no  reality,  and  except 
for  lawyers  it  leads  beyond  all  soundings."  *  *  *  "  And  the 
governor  in  this  character,  on  the  streams  to  which  he  may  be 
confined,  is  like  Wordsworth's  fisherman,  ( tricked  out  in  proud 
disguise' "  (!) 

But  then  again,  this  distinction  between  (t  political"  and 
"civil,"  is  insufficient,  even  according  to  Mr.  Mulford.  And 
not  only  does  the  Nation-  possess  concurrent  civil  powers,  but 
also  superior  ones ;  and  this  he  argues,  even  to  the  extent  of 
interfering  with  the  Family,  which  even  he  admits  to  be  a  sep 
arate  integer  (or  unit)  of  society.  Accordingly  (pp.  297,  298) 
he  says  : — "  The  administration  in  divorce  *  *  *  passes  consist 
ently  to  the  commonwealth,  but  the  Nation  has  an  immediate 
obligation  in  the  maintenance  of  the  Family,  *  *  *  and  if  it  fails 
to  attain  this,  in  its  action  through  the  commonwealth,  it  is  im 
perative  that  it  shall  assume  its  immediate  authority."  Again, 


136  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      I.  III. 

in  regard  to  education  in  the  public  schools,  he  says,  "  while  the 
administration  of  a  system  of  education  may  be  referred  to  the 
commonwealth,  its  institution  is  of  national  importance,  and 
also  of  national  obligation ;  and  in  the  defect  of  the  common 
wealth,  its  authorization  should  proceed  from  the  Nation/7 

In  another  place  (p.  315),  Mulford  draws  the  distinction  be 
tween  "State"  and  "Nation"  to  be  between  "civil"  and  "moral'7; 
making  the  Nation  the  moral  organism.  (•!  suppose  he  means, 
moral  unit.)  According  to  this  theory,  the  Nation  is  both  the 
political  and  moral  unit  of  supremacy.  But  as  a  whole,  Mr. 
Mulford's  theory  is  all  -summed  up  in  the  distinction  of  a  "  cen 
tral  government  and  a  local  administration  ;"  but  yet  he  refuses 
to  accept  that  as  the  statement  of  his  theory,  and  he  devotes  one 
page  (viz.  317),  to  arguing  against  a  theory  that  underlies  and  is 
the  foundation  of  his  whole  book ;  for  there  are  but  three  other 
possible  theories  of  state-rights,  as  he  says,  (p.  309,)  and  he  ob 
jects  to  them  all ;  and  endeavors  to  avoid  the  difficulty  by  saying 
(p.  309)  that  "  the  relation  (between  State  and  Nation)  is  funda 
mental — that  it  is  a  necessary  conception,"  but  that  "only  in 
their  substance"  this  relation  is  realized ;  and  charging  that 
these  other  theories'  comprise  mainly  the  phases  which  the 
subject  has  assumed  in  "abstract  speculations  and  legal  pre 
sumptions."  This  is  as  if  the  discussion  of  an  abstract  prin 
ciple  was  adjourned  in  the  supreme  court,  and  transferred  to  the 
patent  office  to  find  a  model !  For  it  is  with  "  abstract  specula 
tions/7  that  we  are  dealing :  and  the  charge  of  "  legal  presump 
tion77  belongs  to  the  other  side. 

"  We  agree  that  the  relation  is  fundamental,77  and  that  "  this 
relation  is  realized  only  in  their  necessary  conception.77  But 
the  question  is,  which  relation  is  fundamental,  and  what  is  the 
necessary  conception  of  it?  A  re-perusal  of  his  preface,  more 
especially  of  pp.  V  and  vi,  seems  to  show  that  much  of  his  dif 
ficulty  arises  from  confusing  the  laws  of  social  science  which 
treat  of  its  progress  as  a  science,  with  th^  laws  which  treat  of 
the  progress  of  society  itself.  We  have  endeavored  to  point 
out  the  distinction  between  these  things,  in  our  Introduction 
even  from  its  very  beginning.  But  we  also  feel  that  he  is 
systematically  and  upon  principle,  partial  to  the  claims  of 
nationality;  !  ecause,  when  giving  the  rights  of  a  Nation,  he 


ABSTRACT  AND  DIRECT  STATEMENT.          137 

claims  for  it  a  right  to  acquire  foreign  territory  without  paying 
much  attention  to  the  wishes  of  the  territory  to  be  acquired,  but 
in  giving  the  rights  of  a  State  he  does  claim  for  it  a  right  not 
to  be  alienated  or  transferred.  And  what  else  does  this  mean, 
but  that  we  have  a  right  to  acquire  peaceably  a  state  from  Great 
Britain,  Spain,  Germany,  &c. ;  but  that  they  have  not  a  right  to 
acquire  a  state  from  us  ?  And  what  is  this  but  the  old  egotistic 
Americanism,  that  said,  foreigners  had  a  right  to  be  naturalized 
into  the  United  States,  yet  that  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
could  not  be  naturalized  into  any  other  Nation  ?  But  later  de 
cisions  of  our  Supreme  Court  have  reversed  this  old  egotism,  as 
to  the  Individual ;  and  Social  Science  is  reversing  this  theory  as 
to  States.  The  same  unwritten  constitution  which  allowed  us  to 
acquire  Louisiana  and  Florida,  without  even  precedent,  would 
also  allow  us,  if  great  necessity  arose  and  the  consent  of  a  state 
were  given,  to  transfer  it  to  some  other  Nation,  or  to  give  it  total 
separation.  But  of  course,  the  expediency  is -quite  another  ques 
tion.  Nor  would  our  principles  apply  to  the  alienation  of  any  state 
except  what  was  on  the  borders,  as  Louisiana  and  Florida  were. 

This  much,  however,  we  grant  to  Mr.  Mulford's  claims  for 
the  Nation.  If  a  Precinct  neglects  its  duties  of  education,  or 
morality,  the  Nation  has  a  right  to  use  reasonable  MORAL  means, 
instruction,  persuasion,  &c.,  to  produce  improvement  therein. 
And  furthermore,  the  Nation  has  a  right  to  enforce,  that  no 
Individual  or  Family  or  Social  Circle  shall  be  forcibly  and 
unjustly  deprived  of  its  rights  by  a  Precinct.  Yet  still  these 
rights  may  sometimes  be  nothing  more  than  a  right  to  compen 
sated  emigration. 

Furthermore  we  admit,  that  after  Precincts  were  restored  to 
their  natural  rights,  as  fundamental  Units;  then  much  of  what 
Mr.  Mulford  says  of  "commonwealths"  would  be  true.  For 
then  commonwealths  would  be,  what  LARGE  cities  also  ought  to 
be  regarded,  namely,  organs  of  the  Nation:  but  their  parts, 
absolutely  as  Precincts. 

CHAP.  IV.     ABSTRACT   AXD   DIRECT   STATEMENT. 

§  1.  In  General.  , 

Our  theory  may  be  stated  in  its  most  general  expression,  thus : 
— Every  Locality  should  be  independent  of  surrounding  Locali- 


138  BK-  n.      PRECINCT.      I.  IV. 

ties,  except  in  tilings  which  are  incompatible  with  the  rights  of 
other  Localities,  or  of  Individuals,  or  with  the  general  progress 
of  the  whole. 

The  idea  may  be  presented  in  another  way,  and  one  that 
accords  with  the  common  politics  of  the  day,  as  if  foreshadowing 
a  true  Precinct  self-government.  One  man  advocates,  allowing 
each  township  to  decide  for  itself,  its  method  of  voting,  another, 
its  police  organization,  another,  its  question  of  liquor,  another, 
of  dogs,  another,  of  sheep,  another,  of  flowers  or  grain,  another, 
of  tobacco,  another,  of  Sunday,  another,  of  church,  another,  of 
school,  another,  of  woman  suffrage,  another,  of  marriage  or 
divorce,  another,  of  customs  of  dress  and  equipage,  and  so  on. 
Now  our  theory  is,  to  arrange  to  let  each  Precinct  judge  all  these 
questions  together,  for  itself.  And  this  would  merely  be  a  prac 
tical  acknowledgment  of  the  freedom  and  rights  of  the  Precinct. 
§  2.  Adaptations. 

Our  theory  of  Social  Science  reconciles  into  one,  the  two  prin 
cipal  contending  theories.  That  theory  like  Spencer's  which 
reduces  the  powers  of  government  to  a  minimum,  we  apply  to  the 
supreme  government  of  the  whole  Nation  ;  or  the  highest  gen 
eralization  and  largest  organization  of  the  people.  Whilst  the 
other  theory,  which  like  that  of  Comte  and  many  other  French 
men,  gives  to  government  the  maximum  amount  and  diversity 
of  powers,  we  apply  only  to  the  very  smallest  local  or  Precinct 
organization,  whose  powers-  are  somewhat  analogous  to  those  of 
our  individual  states  in  the  United  States. 

And  now  in  order  to  secure  individual  liberty  as  far  as  pos 
sible,  these  Precincts  are  not  only  to  be  made  as  small  as  possible, 
but  provision  is  to  be  fully  made  by  the  general  government,  for 
the  free  safe  and  practicable  removal  of  every  citizen,  with  the 
proceeds  of  his  property,  except  in  case  of  crime  as  set  forth  by 
said  general  government  or  at  least  within  limits  allowed  by  it. 

In  order  to  accomplish  this  result,  it  would  seem  necessary  to 
commit  to  the  courts  of  the  general  government  in  each  Pre 
cinct,  a  concurrent  power  of  Habeas  Corpus,  and  of  the  sale  of 
property  for  persons  ordered  to  emigrate,  or  who  perhaps  were 
merely  desirous  to  depart  voluntarily.  Or  else  peculiar  courts 
might  be  organized,  composed  of  one-half  Precinct-judges  and 
powers,  and  one-half  general-government-judges  and  powers; 


ABSTRACT   AND    DIRECT   STATEMENT.  139 

with  the  provision  that  in  case  of  disagreement,  the  party  should 
have  right  to  sell  and  leave,  under  the  general  government's 
authority. 

This  arrangement  allows  every  sort  of  persons  to  find  the?r 
like,  and  to  reside  together  and  carry  on  their  government  on 
plans  that  would  very  nearly  enable  them  to  be  unanimous,  and 
in  Precincts  so  small  as  would  make  it  easy  for  persons  to  travel 
from  one  to  another.  It  is  obvious  however,  that  under  this 
arrangement,  the  banished  party  should  come  under  heavy  pen 
alties  for  re-entering  his  former  Precinct  without  permission ; 
and  extra  care  should  be  taken  to  prevent  this  result. 

It  is  easy  to  see  the  logical  and  philosophical  relation  here,  of 
general-government-authority,  to  the  special  Precinct-authority; 
because  the  words  government  and  Precinct  might  be  omitted, 
and  we  could  treat  of  the  subject  by  simply  saying  general  au 
thority  and  special  authority,  and  consistently  give  the  general 
powers  and  those  for  direct  general  influence,  to  the  general  au 
thority  ;  and  the  special  power  or  power  for  special  local  pur 
poses,  to  the  special  or  limited  authority.  Thus  the  mere  state 
ment  of  the  thing,  seems  a  good  argument  for  it. 

§  3.  Resemblance  to  international  relations. 

The  minutiae  of  rules  and  regulations  for  inter-Precinct  af 
fairs,  would  be  the  same  in  substance,  as  those  for  international 
affairs, — excepting  of  course,  variations  occasioned  by  the  differ 
ences  that  necessarily  exist  between  Precinct  and  Nation.  And 
these  minutiae  would  arise  in  nearly  the  same  manner  as  inter 
national  law :  accordingly  the  reader  is  referred  to  that  subject  and 
to  NATION,  for  a  consideration  of  them.  The  true  system  of  re 
ciprocal  law  for  Precincts  (when  exhibited)  will  be  very  nearly 
the  true  system  of  international  law,  when  once  that  system  has 
attained  any  thing  near  perfection;  ignoring  of  course  the  in 
admissible  pretensions  of  secession.  In  fact,  the  best  proof  of 
the  perfect  arrangement  and  analysis  of  international  law,  will 
be  its  applicability  nearly  all  through,  to  the  Precinct,  and  its 
allowing  both  subjects  to  be  treated  together, — pointing  out  their 
general  sameness,  and  their  occasional  differences. 

A  prominent  feature  of  the  theory  is  or  should  be,  that  Pre 
cincts  should  be  allowed  to  form  new  confederations  among 
themselves,  under  certain  restrictions.  The  progress  of  society 


140  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      I.  V. 

demands,  that  all  circles  or  Precincts  or  associations  of  men,  who 
are  desirous  or  willing  to  do  better  to  one  another  than  human 
nature  at  large  will  as  yet  justify,  must  necessarily  enter  into 
mutual  arrangements.  This  is  the  basis  of  all  our  great  national 
and  international  beneficial  orders,  such  as  Odd  Fellows,  Ma 
sons,  &c.  Of  course,  nothing  secret  is  meant  or  implied,  in  the 
Precinct-organization.  This  way  of  doing  more  justly  and  truly 
to  one  another,  can  only  become  general,  by  first  exhibiting  its 
superiority,  by  being  adopted  on  the  condition  that  each  shall  do 
so  to  the  other.  Therefore  the  preventing  of  such  combinations 
in  small  Precincts,  is  absolutely  preventing  the  progress  of  so 
ciety  in  its  best  moral  features. 

In  forming  these  leagues,  no  restriction  is  mentioned  that 
they  must  be  adjoining,  nor  need  they  be,  because  their  small- 
ness  is  the  protection  against  rebellion.  A  limit  might  be  placed 
to  the  number  that  should  enter  into  any  one  league,  so  long  as 
any  danger  was  apprehended  from  such  a  source. 

CHAP.  V.  THEORY  OF  AMALGAMS. 

§  1 .  Description  of  Amalgams. 

By  an  Amalgam  we  mean  a  small  Precinct  with  fundamental 
natural  powers ;  but  yet  so  leagued  with  each  of  its  IMMEDIATELY 
contiguous  Precincts  that  its  power  is  partly  limited  by  them, 
and  on  the  mutual  condition  that  each  of  the  other  Precincts  is 
limited  by  the  same  PRINCIPLE,  but  of  course  not  limited  by 
exactly  the  same  identical  Precincts,  for  that  would  be  geograph 
ically  impossible  with  the  principle.  As  the  idea  appears  to  be 
original  with  us,  we  will  try  to  make  it  plain. 

The  legislature  and  government  of  each  Precinct,  (which  we 
might  call  its  Amalgam-Directors,)  might  consist  of  one  or  two 
or  four  or  of  some  even  number  of  persons,  chosen  by  each  adjoin 
ing  Precinct,  together  with  a  number  chosen  by  the  Precinct 
itself,  equal  to  the  total  of  those  chosen  by  all  the  adjoining 
Precincts.  Thus  for  instance,  if  a  Precinct  were  surrounded  by 
and  contiguous  to,  say  four  adjoining  Precincts,  which  is  about  as 
small  a  number  as  is  usually  probable;  and  if  each  such  Precinct 
furnished  two  directors,  that  would  be  eight,  and  the  Precinct 
itself  should  appoint  the  other  eight,  and  thus  the  smallest  common 
Board  of  Amalgam-Directors  for  any  Precinct  would  be  sixteen. 


THEORY    OF   AMALGAMS.  141 

Almost  the  only  cases  in  which  the  number  of  Precincts  in 
any  one  Amalgam,  would  be  less  than  four,  would  be  the  cases 
of  Precincts  on  the  frontiers  of  any  Nation.  In  these  cases, 
each  given  Precinct  would  have  at  least  one  sjde,  namely  the  for 
eign  side,  which  would  not  be  adjoined  by  another  Precinct  of 
the  same  Nation.  In  such  cases,  the  wisdom  of  a  national  gov 
ernment  would  be  to  plan  the  division,  of  the  Precincts  on  the 
frontiers,  with  special  reference  to  this  difficulty,  so  that  no  Pre 
cinct  need  ever  have  less  than  three  others,  and  seldom  less  than 
four  others  adjoining  it.  On  the  frontiers  the  Nation  should 
appoint  a  share  of  the  Amalgam-Directors. 

A  regular  rectangular  division  into  Precincts,  similar  to  the 
plan  of  government  surveys  of  public  lands,  would  make  every 
internal  Precinct  to  be  surrounded  by  eight  others,  and  then  the 
minimum  of  Amalgam-Directors  would  be  sixteen:  or  if  two 
from  each, — then  thirty-two. 

The  special  reason  for  an  even  number  from  each  Precinct  is, 
that  thereby  some  balance  of  power  might  exist,  say  one  half  of 
each  may  be  elected  by  the  elder  persons  and  the  other  half  by 
younger  persons  ;  or  any  other  balance  that  might  be  proper. 

The  number  might  be  increased  to  four,  and  then  a  possibility 
would  arise  of  having  majority  votes  of  each  Precinct,  if  that 
be  considered  any  advantage,  although  it  is  not  so  considered  by 
the  writer. 

The  total  Directors  elected  by  the  Precinct  itself,  should  be  so 
arranged,  that  each  (say)  two  of  them,  together  with  the  corre 
sponding  two  from  the  any  one  of  the  other  specified  Precincts 
in  regard  to  and  with  which  there  was  any  particular  matter, — 
should  be  a  joint  committee  to  superintend  and  arrange  all  minor 
difficulties,  intercourse  and  joint  operations,  exclusively  concern 
ing  and  between  their  own  two  specified  Precincts  themselves ; 
subject  of  course,  in  important  cases,  to  the  confirmation  or  re 
fusal  of  their  proceedings  by  the  Amalgam-Directors  of  either 
or  both  the  Precincts  concerned,  and  to  other  legal  action. 
§  2.  Argument  for  Amalgams. 

The  description  already  given  seems  to  contain  a  pretty  good 
argument  of  itself.  The  spirit  to  "  do  unto  others  as  you  would 
that  they  should  do  unto  you,"  must  have  its  governmental  form. 
Leagues  of  an  original  and  peculiar  kind  between  ADJOINING 


142  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      I.  VI. 

Precincts,  are  absolutely  necessary.  Every  Precinct,  as  it  if- 
LOCALLY  the  centre  of  a  neighborhood  of  Precincts,  and  also 
is  a  part  of  the  neighborhood  of  every  contiguous  Precinct,  so 
it  should  be  made  LEGALLY  such.  In  other  words,  every  Pre 
cinct  should  be  the  centre  of  a  small  Amalgam,  or  small  council 
of  amalgamated  political  and  civil  authority,  exercising  propor 
tions  of  the.  power  of  all  the  Precincts  in  the  Amalgam,  but  yet 
exercising  that  power  on  only  the  central  one  of  each  Amalgam. 

The  Amalgam,  in  the  first  place,  is  necessary  for  the  sake  of 
police  uses  chiefly,  and  to  prevent  offenders  from  escaping  with 
impunity  into  adjoining  Precincts  before  a  proper  police  can  be 
called.  But  there  are  also  other  advantages.  The  Amalgam 
would  also  prevent  any  one  Precinct  from  deviating  too  widely 
or  too  suddenly  from  its  immediate  neighbors ;  such  overwide 
deviations  shocking  the  consciences  of  neighbors,  or  producing 
riots  or  other  great  evils. 

Society  is  not  a  manufacture  nor  a  building,  but  a  growth  and 
a  life.  Hence  the  old  method  of  counties  subdivided  into  in 
dependent  Precincts,  which  make  a  merely  mechanical  structure, 
can  never  be  a  proper  or  perfect  form  for  life-processes.  What 
we  propose  here,  is  strictly  analogous  to  the  interchange  of  pro 
cesses  of  living  bodies.  This  organization  is  entirely  different 
from  the  common  one,  whether  of  States  or  Nations,  and  is  per 
fectly  analogous  to  the  life  of  Individuals  and  also  of  Families. 
Each  one  is  the  centre  of  one  life,  and  at  the  same  time,  is  an 
adjunct  in  the  periphery  of  every  contiguous  one.  But  yet,  the 
Amalgam  is  not  itself  a  Fundamental  Unit  of  society.  But  the 
Precinct  is  that  Unit.  Nor  is  this  theory  of  Amalgams  any  es 
sential  part  of  our  general  Theory  of  the  Precinct ;  but  is  only 
one  of  its  higher  susceptibilities,  and  one  which  would  be  likely 
to  develop  out  of  necessary  inter-Precinct  police  organizations. 

CHAP.   VI.    COMPARISON    WITH      STATES     UNDER    THE    CONSTI 
TUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

§  1 .   The  most  obvious  points. 

(a)  In  general  The  comparison  of  the  Precinct-system  here 
proposed,  with  the  present  states  under  the  U.  S.,  may  be 
summed  up  by  saying,  that  some  of  the  powers  of  each  indi 
vidual  state  (i.e.,  small  Precinct,)  would  be  assigned  to  the  Pre- 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES.  143 

cinct,  or  to  the  Amalgam  with  its  surrounding  Precincts ;  and 
some  of  these  powers  would  be  assigned  to  the  Nation :  whilst 
on  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  powers  of  the  Nation  would  be 
assigned  to  the  individual  Precinct,  or  to  its  Amalgam  with  its 
surrounding  Precincts. 

No  Precinct  would  be  in  amalgam  or  league  with  only  one  set 
of  Precincts ;  because  every  one  of  them  would  form  a  part  of 
as  many  different  Amalgams,  as  it  touched  Precincts  which  sur 
rounded  it,  plus  one  more  necessary  Amalgam,  namely,  the  one 
of  which  the  Precinct  was  itself  the  centre ;  and  perhaps,  plus 
such  additional  leagues,  as  under  the  national  permission,  it 
might  form  voluntarily  with  Precincts  not  touching  it:  but  this 
latter  is  much  less  natural  than  the  other. 

In  this  comparison  with  the  States  of  our  Union,  we  may  say 
in  general,  the  difference  between  the  system  of  Precincts,  and 
that  of  the  States  in  the  Union,  consists  in  the  vastness  of  their 
number,  smallness  of  their  size,  arid  the  consequent  facility  of 
individual  removal,  secured  by  the  national  guarantees,  com 
manding  that  Individuals  should  be  compensated  by  the  Pre 
cincts  ordering  removals.  By  these  differences,  free  choices  are 
secured  for  all,  a  new  element  of  government  is  introduced,  new 
organs  created,  new  functions  performed,  and  harmony  and 
peace  secured  in  the  consciousness  of  personality  in  every  Indi 
vidual,  joined  with  mutual  respect  for  the  personality  of  all 
other  persons. 

Every  Precinct  or  small  neighborhood,  possesses  by  nature, 
and  should  have  granted  to  it  by  law,  the  same  rights  for  the 
most  part,  that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  grants  to 
its  States  severally.  But  the  very  diminished  size  of  our  pro 
posed  states,  makes  necessary  a  number  of  alterations  or  excep 
tions  from  the  state-rights  granted  under  the  constitution ;  and 
some  of  these  alterations  are  diminutions  of  local  power,  and 
some  are  increases  thereof;  in  other  words,  some  "  state-rights" 
should  be  allotted  to  the  Nation  and  others  to  the  Precincts. 
We  may  illustrate  our  general  theory,  by  pointing  out  in  detail, 
a  few  of  these  differences  from  the  present  government  of  the 
United  States, — upon  the  following  named  subjects. 

(b)  Inter-Precinct  affairs. — The  first  class  of  differences  con 
sists  of  inter-Precinct  relations.  The  first  difference,  however, 


144  BK-  n.    PRECINCT,    i.  vi. 

might  become  very  radical  in  nature.  We  do  not  regard  any 
one  Locality  as  being  independent  of  the  Localities  which  im 
mediately  adjoin  it.  The  Precinct  itself  can  only  have  a  legiti 
mate  government,  by  admitting  more  or  less  political  power  to 
be  exercised  within  it,  by  its  immediately  adjoining  Precincts; 
and  it  in  turn  exercising  a  reciprocal  power  on  each  of  them  in 
Amalgams  such  as  we  have  described  above. 

The  exact  amount  or  proportion  of  this  kind  of  inter-Precinct 
power,  is  not  easy  to  determine,  previously  to  experiment,  unless 
by  instinct.  To  us  it  appears  that  each  Precinct  should  have  an 
exactly  EQUAL  amount  of  political  power  to  that  of  the  SUM  of 
the  powers  of  all  its  immediately  adjoining  and  contiguous  Pre 
cincts.  But  to  carry  out  this  idea  rigidly,  according  to  the  argu 
ments  we  shall  hereafter  pursue,  would  make  it  necessary  to  have 
each  Amalgam  or  congeries  of  Precincts,  as  small  as  we  there 
advocate  for  the  single  Precincts ;  and  would  indeed  make  the 
single  Precinct  so  small,  as  to  make  the  theory  at  present  appear 
visionary. 

For  the  "  present  distress"  therefore,  we  need  only  advocate 
a  congeries  of  police  arrangements  for  Precincts.  The  police 
of  each  Precinct  should  be  allowed  to  enter  its  adjoining  Pre 
cincts  when  in  pursuit  of  offenders  immediately  after  the  offence. 
Or  still  better,  a  consolidated  police  should  be  chosen  for  each 
Precinct,  by  an  authority  consisting,  one-half  of  delegates  from 
the  immediately  adjoining  Precincts,  and  one-half  by  the  Pre 
cinct  itself  in  which  they  are  to  act  more  immediately,  with  the 
privilege  of  extending  th,eir  pursuits  of  criminals  freely  into  the 
immediately  adjoining  Precincts.  Some  clauses  of  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  have  only  a  formal  but  not  a  spiritual 
opposition  to  our  theory;  that  is  to  say,  their  objects  are  good, 
but  their  methods  are  incompatible  with  our  proposed  theory. 
For  instance,  "No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance  or 
confederation. — And  no  state  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Con 
gress,  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  state," 
&c.  Incompatible :  Because,  no  great  moral  improvements  can 
be  made,  either  by  Nations,  Precincts  or  Individuals,  only  so 
far  as  they  are  allowed  and  encouraged,  to  treat  their  friends  or 
those  who  do  well, — better  than  they  treat  those  who  are  not 
their  friends  or  who  do  not  well ;  and  only  as  they  are  allowed 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES.  145 

thus  to  treat  one  another  better,  on  the  condition  of  mutuality 
or  special  reciprocity. 

That  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  in 
spirit  is  most  at  variance  with  our  proposed  radical  theory,  is  its 
Article  IV.,  especially  the  following  extracts,  §  1  :  "  Full  faith 
and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  state,  to  the  public  acts"  &c., 
"  of  every  other  state."  But  under  our  theory,  Precincts,  like 
Individuals,  would  need  to  prove  their  credibility,  to  the  satis 
faction  of  other  Precincts.  And  §  2 :  "  Citizens  of  each  state 
shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens 
of  the  several  states."  But  under  our  theory  nothing  of  the  kind 
would  be  possible  long.  For  every  Precinct  would  establish 
its  own  conditions  for  citizenship  within  itself.  And  §  3  :  "  No 
new  state  shall  be  formed  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other 
state,  *  *  *  without  the  consent  *  *  *  of  the  Congress."  But 
under  our  theory,  Precincts  must  ever  continue  to  subdivide, 
with  the  increase  of  population.  Yet  still,  the  consent  of  the 
congress  is  so  far  necessary,  that  it  should  provide  the  GENERAL 
laws  and  forms  of  proceeding  for  such  subdivisions.  Immi 
grants  and  sojourners  should  be  judged  by  the  Precincts  into 
which  they  voluntarily  come.  Fugitives  should  be  judged,  not 
by  the  Precinct  whence  they  escape,  but  by  the  Nation.  The 
return  of  fugitives  by  force,  except  for  causes  approved  by  the 
Nation,  is  absurd:  but  by  treaty  with  adjoining  Precincts,  is 
reasonable. 

In  order  that  each  Precinct  might  have  a  reasonable  oppor 
tunity  to  know  that  the  inter- precinct  regulations  were  carried 
out  fairly,  and  to  assist  therein  ;  each  should  allow  one  Precinct- 
consular-agent  from  each  of  the  immediately  adjoining  Precincts, 
to  reside  therein,  at  his  own  convenience,  who  should  have  all 
the  immunities  of  person  and  Family  that  foreign  consuls  have. 
And  the  same  privilege  would  have  to  be  granted,  of  course,  to 
a  reasonable  number  of  the  agents  of  the  general  government. 

Disputes  between  residents  of  diiferent  Precincts  should  be 
settled  by  parties  selected  from  both,  and  should  be  decided 
according  to  the  principles  of  arbitration.  All  disputes  wherein 
a  Precinct  was  interested,  should  be  settled  by  principles  and 
laws  more  general  than  those  within  the  Precinct  itself,  yet  still, 
according  to  the  principles  of  arbitration ;  whether  the  contend- 

10 


146  BK-  IL     PRECINCT.     I.  vi. 

ing  party  were  another  Precinct,  or  whether  it  were  the  Nation 
itself;  provided,  that  constitutional  questions,  in  cases  wherein 
the  Nation  is  a  party,  should  of  course  be  determined  by  the 
courts  of  the  Nation  itself.  Furthermore,  all  cases  of  dispute, 
as  to  whether  any  matter  belongs  to  the  Nation  or  not,  should 
be  carried  by  appeal  to  the  national  courts. 

There  should  be  provided  by  the  Nation,  general  laws  for 
the  declaration  of  national  roads,  &c.,  for  the  charter  of  new 
roads  running  through,  say  three  or  more  Precincts ;  but  the 
details  should  be  executed  by  the  Precincts  themselves  through 
which  they  are  to  pass.  But  roads  between  only  two  Precincts 
could  safely  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  Precincts  concerned. 

Rivers  and  water  courses,  would  come  under  the  law  of  roads. 

All  regulations  of  travel  on  roads  declared  national,  should 
be  retained  by  the  Nation,  or  assigned  to  the  Nation.  But  not 
so  as  to  give  any  traveler  a  right  to  halt  in  objectionable  places 
times  or  manners,  nor  remain  long  nor  depart  far  from  the  road 
itself,  without  the  consent  of  the  Precinct.  New  roads  not 
declared  national,  entering  more  than  three  Precincts;  and 
changes  of  the  location  of  such,  should  require  the  consent  of  say 
three-fourths  of  the  Precincts  through  which  the  road  or  changed 
location  is  to  be  made. 

(c)  Affairs  within  the  Precinct  itself.  The  other  class  of  dif 
ferences  that  would  have  to  be  pointed  out,  in  this  comparison 
with  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  relates  to  matters 
\vithiii  the  Precinct  itself. 

Any  Precinct  should  be  allowed  to  establish  for  itself,  as  its 
own  legal  tender,  a  solvent  paper-currency  representing  fairly 
any  specified  commodity  or  commodities  of  general  use  in  the 
United  States  ;  provided  that  no  refusal  to  liquidate,  according 
to  the  actual  promises,  should  be  allowed. 

The  Nation  should  not  assume  to  pass  any  bankrupt,  or  any 
other  law  releasing  debtors,  or  otherwise  interfering  in  such 
matters,  except  to  secure  the  right  of  change  of  domicile. 

No  Precinct  should  be  allowed  to  make  any  general  assign 
ment  or  forfeiture  of  private  property  to  the  public,  under  less 
than  50  or  100  years'  notice,  without  compensation.  This  rule 
is  needed  to  prevent  agrarian  outrages.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
to  prevent  speculators  from  procuring  such  agrarian  legislation 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  147 

and  notices, — merely  that  they  might  lay  up  property;  and  then 
after  a  ^ime,  get  the  notices  repealed. 

The  right  of  Individuals  to  remove  from  a  Precinct  with  the 
proceeds  of  their  property,  and  the  right  to  a  free  sale  or  trans 
fer  of  such  property  to  the  highest  bidder  in  or  out  of  such  • 
Precinct,  should  be  guaranteed,  except  for  crimes  recognized  by 
the  Nation  or  by  the  genuine  principles  of  morality.  And  then 
the  penalties  should  not,  excepting  banishment,  be  in  excess  of 
those  allowed  by  the  Nation  from  time  to  time,  for  offences  of  a 
similar  degree  of  criminality. 

There  is  one  foundation  for  certain  special  Precincts,  namely, 
a  peace-foundation,  which  would  require  some  further  special 
enactments  and  principles;  and  which  no  doubt  would  be 
granted  to  them  by  the  national  government, — namely,  Pre 
cincts  established  on  a  peace-basis,  should  not  be  required  to 
violate  that  basis  by  draft  or  otherwise ;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
the  voluntary  formation  and  existence  of  such  Precincts,  would 
much  facilitate  the  administration  of  the  rules  of  war,  in  the 
other  Precincts  generally.  Indeed,  so  clear  are  the  rights  and 
so  important  the  uses  of  Peace-Precincts,  that  even  before  the 
institution  of  any  GENERAL  system  of  Precincts,  these  rights 
should  be  granted  by  easy  charter  from  congress,  or  by  general 
laws. 

(d)  Temporary  restrictions  of  the  Precinct-powers,  would  be 
necessary,  for  such  a  length  of  time  as  would  preserve  rights  and 
secure  safety  under  state-authority,  until  the  plan  could  be  safely 
and  fully  instituted,  and  the  necessary  changes  and  removals 
could  be  made.  But  to  make  the  matter  more  plain,  we  will 
give  a  few  details  of  those  exceptions  and  reservations. 

States  could  pass  laws  for  intercourse  with  contiguous  states, 
and  relating  to  contiguous  operations ;  but  only  to  go  into  force 
at  a  certain  future  time,  and  on  condition  of  the  contiguous  states 
adopting  similar  laws  previous  to  that  time. 

No  person  at  any  time,  should  be  punished  for  offences  against 
religion,  in  the  exercise  of  freedom  of  conscience,  by  any  other 
punishment  than  by  requisition  to  remove  from  the  district  after 
12  months'  notice.  But  in  the  beginning,  this  class  of  permitted 
orders  of  removal,  should  be  suspended  for  5  or  6  years  after 
the  adoption  of  the  general  plan,  to  allow  plenty  of  time  for  the 


148  BK-  H-      PRECINCT.      I.  VI. 

settlement  of  present  interests,  and  vested  rights,  and  for  due 
deliberation.  And  all  persons  removing  by  order,  at  any  time, 
should  be  paid  a  sum  sufficient  to  enable  them  and  their  fami 
lies,  if  any,  to  travel  to  the  nearest  Precincts  or  neighborhoods 
where  they  would  be  allowed  to  remain,  so  far  as  a  knowledge 
of  their  character  possessed  at  that  time,  would  render  their 
stay  admissible.  Rates  of  compensation  should  be  fixed  by  the 
national  government ;  unless  otherwise  agreed  between  the  par 
ticular  Precincts  respectively  concerned  in  each  kind  of  removal, 
— namely,  the  one  forsaken  and  the  one  adopted. 

Also  some  special  provisions  of  a  greater  length  of  notice,  (say 
21  years)  would  be  required  for  the  affairs  and  the  government 
of  minors,  and  for  fiduciary  property;  or  such  property  might 
be  sold  according  to  existing  state  or  national  laws,  if  any,  and 
be  held  by  Trust  Companies  accordingly. 

To  prevent  injustice  in  the  beginning,  the  Nation's  Criminal 
Law  and  perhaps  also  its  whole  Civil  Law,  should  be  carefully 
improved,  not  by  tricky  "digests,"  but  by  all  known  necessary 
statutes : — And  then  by  a  clause,  that  it  should  remain  unal 
tered  for  say  JO  years.  This  would  allow  political  and  social 
dissenters,  time  to  sell  out  and  remove. - 

It  might  also  make  the  transition  seem  safer  and  more  satis 
factory  to  some  persons,  if,  for  the  few  years  during  the  transi 
tions,  the  privilege  of  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Na 
tion  were  allowed  and  reserved  for  all  important  cases.  But  the 
suggestion  is  only  to  satisfy  the  timid,  and  to  be  temporary  in 
its  nature,  for  obviously,  the  permanent  existence  of  such  a  rule 
of  appeal,  would  become,  or  at  any  rate,  might  easily  become 
tantamount  to  the  entire  nullification  of  all  the  essential  rights 
and  benefits  of  the  plan  itself. 

§  2.  Points  of  the  comparison  needing  further  illustration. 

(a)  Commerce  and  the  Legal  Tender. — In  comparing  the  pro 
posed  Precinct-system  with  the  constitution  and  system  of  the 
United  States,  there  are  several  points  which  seem  to  need 
further  elucidation  than  what  could  be  given  to  them  in  the 
foregoing  general  views.  Let  us  now  proceed  with  them. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  legal  tender  ought  to  be  en 
trusted  to  the  Precinct.  Now  we  admit  that  while  law,  whether 
of  Precinct  or  Nation,  may  for  extraordinary  reasons,  extend  the 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES. 

time  of  fulfillment  of  contracts  reasonably,  or  even  depreciate, 
the  common  old  currencies,  by  altering  the  legal  tender,  yet 
when  the  emergency  is  past,  the  old  tender  should  be  promptly 
restored :  But  that  has  hardly  ever  been  done.  We  may  also 
admit,  that  changes  of  so  great  a  nature  may  arise,  that  a  per 
manent  alteration  of  the  legal  tender  may  become  necessary. 
But  obviously  no  such  alteration  should  be  made,  otherwise  than 
by  alteration  of  the  constitution  itself.  But  experience  proves, 
as  we  show  under  Property,  that  the  question  of  changes  in  the 
legal  tender,  cannot  safely  be  entrusted  to  national  governments, 
because  their  control  is  too  absolute,  and  competition  too  entirely 
slow  in  its  effects  thereupon.  And  all  the  serious  troubles  that 
have  arisen  from  LOCAL  currencies  have  arisen  from  their  being 
irredeemable.  Hence,  all  that  the  Nation  ought  to  prescribe  on 
the  subject  of  the  currency,  is,  that  all  promises  of  currency 
should  be  redeemable  in  the  legal  tender  promised,  with  only 
such  extensions  of  time  as  were  duly  provided  for  by  law : — 
otherwise,  should  be  payable,  one  half  in  the  currency  of,  ami 
under  the  regulations  of,  the  promisor;  and  the  other  half  in 
that  of  the  promisee,  or  of  the  Preciacts  of  residence  thereof. 
But  the  Nation  has  a  right  to  see  that  no  Precinct  shall  have 
one  legal  tender  for  its  resident  debtors,  but  a  different  one  for 
its  resident  creditors ;  nor  that  any  other  differences  should  be 
made  except  those  which  pertained  strictly  to  Locality,  such  as, 
to  the  nearness  of  and  known  reliability  of  guarantors,  when 
guarantors  were  necessary,  in  extensions  of  time. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  the  Nation,  legitimately  belong,  the 
regulation  of  the  subjects  of  WHOLESALE  Commerce,  domestic 
and  foreign,  and  even  the  regulation  of  intercourse  between 
Precincts  so  far  as  they  had  not  entered  into  special  agreements 
of  their  own.  All  the  other  matters  must  come  under  a  merely 
general  supervision  of  the  Nation,  so  far  as  to  see  that  neither 
Individuals  nor  Precincts,  were  brought  under  the  application 
of  laws  to  which  they  had  not  first  actually  knowingly  and  freely 
consented.  Furthermore,  these  rights  may  safely  be  given  to 
Precincts,  because  the  right  is  guaranteed,  of  removal  to  such 
other  Precincts  as  will  receive  the  Individuals  in  question. 

6)  Divorce.     The  most  difficult  cases  to  understand  the  pre 
cise  effects  of  our  theory  in,  are  divorces,  especially  when  there 


150  BK-  II-      PRECINCT.      I.  VI. 

are  children.  We  may  explain  this  difficulty  thus  :  It  is  a  part 
of  <our  theory.  (1)  That  no  Precinct  should  receive  immigrant 
strangers,  without  evidence  of  the  legitimacy  of  the  immigration, 
satisfactory  to  its  government.  (2)  If  persons  removed  to  other 
Precincts  merely  in  order  to  get  a  divorce,  and  then  to  return  to 
their  original  Precinct  or  some  other,  they,  by  this  right  of  Pre 
cinct  to  examine  character,  would  be  excluded  from  all  Precincts 
which  disapproved  of  their  course.  (3)  Few  Precincts  would  be 
silly  enough  to  allow  divorce  to  new  comers,  especially  where 
there  were  children  to  be  supported,  because  such  children  would 
come  upon  the  Precinct  for  support.  (4)  It  is  no  part  of  our 
theory,  to  prevent  persons  who  deliberately  intend  to  try  any 
social  experiments,  from  assembling  in  Precincts  by  themselves, 
and  reaping  the  full  effects  of  their  experiments,  whether  they 
be  good  or  whether  they  be  evil.  But  the  Nation  has  the  right 
to  compel  the  support  of  the  children  &c.  (5)  It  is  a  part  of 
our  theory,  that  the  question  of  marriage  and  divorce  is  of  too 
private  a  nature  for  the  law  to  judge  understandingly,  especially 
without  the  concurrence  of  the  Social  Circle,  and  the  moral  and 
f  religious  organizations.  (6)  That  whether  divorced  or  single,  all 
women  are  entitled  to  speciai  assistance  from  government,  and 
especially  divorced  women;  and  that  the  better  class  of  Pre 
cincts,  would  voluntarily,  and  the  others  should  be  obliged  to, 
provide  for  this  right;  and  those  Precincts  which  did  not  so 
provide,  would  not  be  very  inviting  to  the  women.  (7)  That 
the  rights  of  Precincts  we  are  advocating,  are  rights  over  their 
own  citizens,  not  rights  of  contracts  in  which  one  party  is  a 
citizen  and  the  other  not. 

Still,  we  must  admit,  that  length  of  residence,  in  order  to 
have  full  rights,  must  have  some  reasonable  limit.  But  even 
this  is  more  safely  left  to  competition  among  the  Precincts,  than 
to  the  monopoly  or»a  distant  central  power,  whose  policy  would 
continually  fluctuate,  with  its  probable  influence  on  great  totals 
of  voters,  and  the  probable  need  of  such  influence.  Further 
more,  the  unlimited  gift  of  such  power  to  the  Nation,  might 
easily  result  in  breaking  up  nearly  all  the  advantages  of  the 
Precinct  theory.  But,  for  the  further  discussion  of  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Family,  the  reader  is  referred  especially  to  that 
Element,  and  also  to  some  parts  of  the  discussion  on  Property. 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE    UNITED   STATES.       .  151 

Here  we  observe  this  much  however.  The  states  which  have 
led  in  hasty  divorces,  have  been  chiefly  the  new  sta,tes  with  very 
sparse  populations.  The  foundation-fault  therefore  has  been, 
that  same  that  we  have  to  encounter  every  where  in  our  national 
history  ar,d  politics,  namely,  the  over  hasty  partitioning  out  of 
our  new  lands  so  much  sooner  than  the  wants  of  Mankind,  or 
of  civilization  or  morality,  either  required  or  permitted. 

The  new  system  would  require  power  to  enforce  the  Precinct- 
principle,  in  cases  of  desertion  of  marital  or  family  obligations. 

The  right  of  free  migration  should  be  restricted  then,  if  it 
could  be,  when  the  Precinct  itself  should  render  some  aid  to 
deserted  women,  and  efficient  aid  to  deserted  children.  The 
women,  to  be  sure,  should  have  the  same  chance  to  follow  after 
their  deserting  husbands,  that  they  now  have  under  the  ordi 
nary  constitutions.  But  whether  they  should  be  allowed  to  take 
away  young  and  helpless  children,  into  all  sorts  of  risks  and 
dangers,  is  another  question.  If  a  Precinct  fulfills  its  duties  to 
its  women  and  children,  it  naturally  has  the  right  of  guardian 
ship  over  deserted  children,  until  they  attain  to  full  age.  Our 
theory  is,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  governments  to  care  for  the  chil 
dren,  and  even  to  aid  the  women.  But  the  causes  of  divorce 
are  sometimes  very  private  and  very  sacred.  Nor  can  any  civil 
government  judge  of  such  questions.  But  still,  every  Precinct 
should  be  allowed  to  try  its  own  plan,  under  the  national  rules. 
And  the  Precinct's  license  of  divorce,  would  and  must  be  made 
to  be  held  in  balance  by  its  duties  to  aid  and  protect  the  deserted 
women  and  children,  which  should  be  made  obligatory,  at  least, 
as  the  condition  of  Precinct-divorces. 

It  is  almost  certain,  that  the  rule  would  soon  become  general 
among  the  Precincts,  to  require  of  immigrants,  certificates  or 
other  evidences  of  good  character,  coming  from  other  Precincts, 
at  least  those  within  the  Nation.  And  these  certificates  would 
vary  according  to  the  nature  and  predominant  ideas  of  the  Pre 
cinct  into  which  the  immigrant  would  remove.  Moral  Precincts 
would  require  moral  certificates;  Hygienic  Precincts,  hygienic 
certificates ;  Secular  Precincts,  secular  certificates ;  and  so  on. 
But  probably  most  of  them  would  soon  require  duly  attested 
certificates  of  faithful  performance  of  Family-obligations.  Some 
would  require  such,  for  the  sake  of  principle ;  and  some  for  the 


152  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      I.  VI. 

sake  of  preservation  from  a  rush  of  social  parasites,  unwilling 
to  maintain  their  own  Families  or  be  responsible  for  their  own 
doings. 

(c)  Punishment  of  crime.     Precincts  must  be  required  to  hold 
their  own  criminals  in  duress,  or  else  transfer  them  to  a  superior 
authority.     The  principle  should  be  established,  that  although 
no  Precinct  should  be  required  by  superior  government,  to  punish 
criminals  beyond  its  own  idea  of  justice  and  expediency,  yet 
neither  should  any  Precinct  be  allowed  ever  to  avowedly  permit 
great  criminals,  or  even  any  habitual  criminals,  to  emigrate  to 
other  Precincts.     And  this  latter  can  only  be  avoided  in  some 
cases,  by  the  Precinct  passing  all  such  criminals  regularly  over 
to  some  more  general  authority.     Hence,  the  Precinct  should 
not  banish  for  any  real  or  enormous  crime,  thus  turning  crimi 
nals  loose  on*  other  Precincts.     And  in  the  case  of  certain  speci 
fied  crimes,  should  not  even  allow  the  criminal  to  go  at  liberty. 
But  if  the  Precinct  does  not  approve  of  punishing  him  by  hold 
ing  him  in  duress  securely  enough  or  long  enough,  it  must  then 
pass  him  over  to  the  more  general  authority,  the  Nation.     Pre 
cincts,  even  as  Nations,  should  be  held  accountable,  if  they  per 
mit  their  inhabitants  to  "raid"  against  adjoining  or  neighboring 
ones,  or  against  any  others. 

The  foregoing  principles,  would  make  necessary  an  exact  re 
versal  of  the  rule  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  (Art. 
4,  Sect.  2)  in  regard  to  the  restoration  of  fugitive  criminals,  and 
the  usual  jurisdiction  only  by  the  Locality  of  the  offence.  Every 
government,  Precinct  or  other,  has  the  natural  right  to  punish 
its  immigrant  criminals,  even  for  crimes  committed  elsewhere; 
and  that  was  often  the  rule  in  ages  of  simplicity  and  nature. 
Precincts  like  Nations,  would  require  to  make  their  own  special 
treaties,  in  order  to  place  themselves  under  a  different  order. 

(d)  Division  of  Precincts.    The  just  principle  is  that  each  Pre 
cinct  should  be  allowed  to  divide  at  will,  whenever,  BUT  NOT 
BEFORE,  it  had  a  population  sufficient  to  make  two  or  more  Pre 
cincts,  each  having  an  AVERAGE  of  population  of  the  rest  of  the 
Precincts  of  the  Nation.     This  rule  should  apply  even  more 
strictly  to  the  admission  of  new  "  states"  or  the  transformation 
of  mere  rural  territories  into  states,  than  to  the  division  of  al- 
re:Uy  existing  ones ;    because  the  Nation  evidently  has  more 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.        153 

right  over  and  more  claims  upon  a  state  which  and  WHEN  it 
makes,  than  upon  one  already  existing.  And  while  two  senators 
are  admitted  from  each  state,  the  state  itself  should  be  divided 
into  two  separate  senatorial  districts,  arranged  expressly  with  a 
view  to  the  probable  subsequent  division,  and  modified  from 
time  to  time,  to  suit  the  changing  probabilities  of  the  expected 
lines  of  division. 

Most  of  our  states  that  have  been  admitted,  since  the  first 
ones,  have  had  less  than  100,000  inhabitants,  at  the  time  of  their 
acknowledgment  as  states.  And  the  average  of  most  of  them  is 
50,000.  But  several  that  have  lately  been  admitted  as  states, 
have  had  only  about  10,000  (!)  But  in  the  census  of  1870  New 
York  has  4,382,000;  Pennsylvania,  3,522,000;  Ohio,  2,666,000; 
Illinois,  2,540,000  ;  and  so  on  (!) 

The  seven  states  which  inaugurated  the  great  rebellion,  had 
at  the  time  only  82 J  per  cent,  of  an  average  state-population ; 
and  only  51  per  cent,  of  an  average  state- voting-population. 
And  the  thirteen  which  finally  composed  the  rebellious  confed 
eracy,  contained  but  92  per  cent,  of  an  average  state-population, 
and  only  66  per  cent,  of  an  average  of  the  voters.  Thus  the 
statistics  warn  us  of  the  danger  of  giving  so  much  preference 
to  square  miles  rather  than  to  population,  in  admitting  new 
"  states"  to  the  Union.  Furthermore,  the  late  financial  panic 
helps  prove  the  same  conclusion ;  for  that  panic  was  brought  on 
chiefly  by  the  over  haste  and  consequent  rottenness  of  the  west 
ern  Rail  Road  building.  And  if  there  is  any  one  thing  cor 
rupting  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  more  than  any  thing 
else,  it  is  this  preponderance  given  to  Locality,  and  its  connected 
speculation  for  "  grabbing  up"  the  new  lands. 

(e)  Rebellion  of  Precincts.  One  of  the  principal  defects  in  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  the  omission  to  provide  ex 
pressly  for  the  contingency  of  rebellion  by  states.  But  our  com 
parison  shall  be  very  explicit  on  this  subject.  Rebellion  by  a 
state  or  Precinct,  forfeits  the  political  rights  of  that  state  or  Pre 
cinct,  as  such.  And  the  more  united  the  Precinct  had  been,  in 
its  rebellion,  the  more  just  would  this  punishment  be.  Let  us 
illustrate  this. 

Nothing  is  clearer,  than  that  the  whole  subject  of  the  internal 
government  of  each  of  the  states  is,  by  the  constitution,  left  to 


154  Bit.  II.      PRECINCT.      I.  VI. 

the  government  of  the  state  itself.  IF  then,  when  a  state  re 
belled,  it  REALLY  continued  to  be  a  state,  it  is  evident  that  the 
general  government  would  have  no  authority  to  administer  the 
affairs  of  the  Nation,  so  far  as  they  involved  that  state,  even 
during  its  rebellion,  nor  to  settle  its  affairs  any  time  afterwards, 
even  after  complete  conquest.  Such  a  conclusion  would  place 
the  Nation  at  the  mercy  of  a  few  states,  and  would  be  absurd. 
What  part  of  the  secession  argument,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  is 
false  ?  Why,  that  which  assumes  that  a  state  continues  to  be  a 
state  after  it  rebels.  The  fact  of  rebellion  by  a  state  as  such, 
that  is,  by  the  state  government  as  authorized  and  upheld  by 
the  regular  majority  of  the  voting  people  of  that  state, — that 
fact  per  se,  annuls  the  political  rights  of  the  state  as  a  state,  and 
remands  it  to  the  condition  of  a  "territory"  or  "district."  Just 
as  certainly  as  the  fact  of  an  Individual's  rebelling,  naturally 
takes  away  his  political  rights,  just  so,  the  fact  of  a  state  rebelling 
by  full  authority  of  its  political  rulers  and  voters,  takes  away 
the  political  rights  of  that  organization  of  voters,  and  of  that 
moral  charter  or  state  sovereignty  which  it  possessed.  Unless 
this  were  so,  you  would  establish  as  a  principle,  that  a  rebellious 
state,  after  being  badly  beaten,  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  disarm 
its  fighters,  and  return  to  the  halls  of  congress  to  obstruct  legis 
lation,  withhold  pay  of  the  war  debt,  withhold  pensions  for  the 
killed  and  wounded,  and  throw  all  its  influence  to  injure  the 
general .  country  and  provoke  wars  with  other  countries ;  and 
then  rebel  again. 

If  a  state  does  not  forfeit  its  rights  as  a  state  by  rebellion, 
then  the  general  government  must  have  disbanded  its  armies  at 
once,  after  the  fall  of  Richmond,  and  allowed  the  Southern 
rebels  to  resume  their  seats  in  congress,  vote  for  ALL  their 
Blacks,  instead  of  for  the  f  of  them,  which  was  all  they  were 
allowed  to  vote  for  before  the  war.  This  is  just  the  kind  of 
a  settlement  that  might  have  been  expected,  if  the  result  of  the 
war  had  been  exactly  the  opposite  to  what  it  was,  and  if  the 
South  had  come  off  conquerors  instead  of  the  North,  yet  with 
out  accomplishing  an  entire  dissolution.  In  fact  there  is  no  way 
to  justify  either  Congress  or  the  President/ requiring  any  stipu 
lation  or  constitutional  alteration  to  be  accepted  by  a  rebelled 
state,  which  does  not  imp'y  that  the  rebelled  state  has  lost  its 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES.  155 

political  rights,  and  is  no  longer  a  state  at  all,  in  the  eye  of  the 
law  or  of  the  constitution.  It  is  an  established  principle  that 
war  annuls  all  previous  political  contracts,  except  otherwise  men-. 
Honed. 

Eebellion  does  not  take  a  state  out  of  the  Union,  but  it  takes 
its  political  constitution  out  of  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Its  territory  remains  as  property,  and  its  roads  to  be 
taken  and  traveled  on ; — its  inhabitants  remain  to  be  governed 
and  protected,  as  may  be  wise  and  reasonable;  the  rights  of 
citizenship  of  loyal  Individuals  as  Individuals  remain  unim 
paired,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  residents  of  territories ;  but 
their  political  state  rights  are  gone,  for  tlie  state  is  no  more  a 
state,  but  a  territory  or  District  like  the  District  of  Columbia, 
or  like  any  western  territory  not  yet  admitted  by  congress.  All 
the  world  over,  wherever  .one  part  of  a  country  rebels,  and  is 
defeated  and  conquered,  the  governors  of  that  region  lose  their 
political  rights,  until  restored  by  the  conquerors : — and  in  this 
country,  the  governors  of  the  rebellious  states  were  the  majority 
of  the  voters  of  those  states,  except  perhaps  in  one  or  two  of 
them.  The  political  rights  of  that  dynasty,  therefore  are  for 
feited.  The  President's  pardon  cannot  affect  that  subject, 
because  it  is  not  an  Individual  affair,  but  an  affair  of  office, 
of  majorities,  and  of  the  state  government  tself. 

Nothing  in  this  argument,  however,  is  to  be  so  construed,  as 
to  deny  the  right  of  Precincts  to  rebel,  upon  sufficient  cause. 
The  conflict  of  arms  results  in  general  from  the  uncompromised 
conflicts  of  opinion,  and  which  are  useless  to  discuss  any  further. 
It  is  a  resort  to  which  every  living  thing  which  believes  in 
fighting,  has  a  natural  right,  upon  just  occasion.  But  after  the 
resort  to  arms  has  been  made  and  concluded  in  conquest,  the 
rights  of  the  conquerors  are  limited  only  by  the  laws  of  nations 
and  by  Christian  morality.  But  the  expediencies  are  a  different 
question. 

(/)  Separation  of  National  from  Precinct  politics.  To  avoid 
confusing  local  interests  and  local  parties,  with  national  ones,  no 
council  or  legislative  body  elected  for  Precinct  affairs  or  Pre 
cinct  purposes,  ought  to  be  chosen  to  select  officers  for  national 
affairs ;  but  such  ought  to  be  selected  according  to  a  different 
division  of  parties,  grounded  upon  an  entirely  different  classifi- 


156  BK.  II.      PRECINCT.      I.  VII. 

cation  of  ideas,  and  relating  to  an  entirely  different  class  of 
concerns.  But  to  this,  must  be  excepted  questions  concerning 
the  division  of  a  Nation  or  Precinct,  or  concerning  the  relative 
degrees  of  power  or  administration  belonging  to  either.  But, 
as  every  returning  to  such  a  discussion  and  division  on  this 
branch  of  the  subject,  tends  to  confuse  inextricably  the  separate 
businesses  and  functions  of  the  two  great  organs  of  government, 
it  follows  that  something  ought  to  be  done  to  prevent  constant 
or  long  continued  political  struggles,  in  this  matter  of  the  rela 
tion  of  Precinct  to  Nation.  This  might  be  accomplished  per 
haps,  by  having  conventions  held,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
remodeling  the  constitution  of  the  Nation,  at  only  certain  regu 
lar  intervals,  say,  every  ten  or  fifteen  years,  in  hopes  that  in  the 
interim  all  question  relating  to  the  subject  might  have  rest. 
Moreover  and  still  better,  to  keep  the  different  businesses  and  the 
two  functions  separate,  the  elections  for  National  officers  ought 
to  be  at  as  different  times  as  possible.  And  as  annual  elections 
are  frequent  enough,  it  would  be  best  that  the  elections  for  Pre 
cinct  or  Nation  were  held  in  alternate  years  or  not  often er,  and 
not  any  nearer  together  respectively.  And  the  longer  time  that 
could  be  allowed,  consistently  with  other  reasons,  to  intervene 
between  the  different  kinds  of  elections,  the  more  distinct  they 
would  be  kept,  and  the  better  therefore  would  be  the  results. 

CHAP.    VII.      STATEMENT   AND   DETERMINATION    OF   THE    SIZE 
OF   PRECINCTS. 

§  1.   Conditions  in  general. 

Under  this  head  we  will  first  give  the  formula?,  with  some 
general  arguments ;  next,  a  few  further  thoughts  on  the  condi 
tions  of  population;  and  then  a  few  on  the  conditions  of  locality. 
The  object  here  however,  is  not  to  L,O  through  the  whole  argu 
ment  for  small  Precincts,  which  is  reserved  for  the  Second  di 
vision  of  this  Part,  of  the  work.  But  assuming  the  general 
doctrine  to  be  established,  the  particular  problem,  is  to  deter 
mine  exactly  how  small  the  Precincts  should  be.  This  consid 
eration  is  placed  before  the  other,  'n  order  the  better  to  explain 
the  nature  of  our  theory. 

Precincts  should  be  no  larger  in  territory  or  population,  than 
would  admit  of  all  the  adult  people,  or  at  least  all  the  voters, 


SIZE   OF   THE   PRECINCTS.  157 

meeting  conveniently  in  one  assembly.  And  no  larger  than 
would  allow  the  heads  of  Families  as  residents,  to  be  gen 
erally  acquainted  with  each  other,  at  least  by  hearsay,  yet  not 
so  small  as  to  preclude  the  chances  of  reasonably  furnishing  the 
proper  proportion  of  qualified  governmental  officials. 

This  minimum  of  smallness  is  called  for,  because  each  Pre 
cinct  of  a  perfected  system,  is  required  to  derive  considerable 
government  authority  from  its  adjoining  Precincts,  and  be  an 
Amalgam  therewith;  so  that  to  have  large  Precincts,  would 
require  this  Amalgam  to  be  larger  than  would  accord  with  the 
safety  of  individual  personal  liberty.  Thus,  each  Precinct  is 
the  centre  of  one  life,  and  at  the  same  time,  is  a  part  of  the 
circumference  of  life  of  every  other  Precinct  adjoining  it. 

The  second  idea  to  determine  the  size  of  Precincts,  is  the 
necessity  of  keeping  local  and  national  politics  distinct.  How 
ever  small  the  legal  organization  of  any  territory  or  company, 
there  will  always  be  formed  a  few  and  never  more  than  a  few 
caucuses,  cliques  or  parties ;  voluntary  subdivisions  or  suborgan- 
izations  to  affect  the  legal  one.  These  subdivisions  or  suborgan- 
izations  are  formed  on  purpose  to  affect  the  legal  organization, 
and  grow  out  of  it  and  cannot  get  far  from  it.  This  is  the  reason 
why  there  never  can  be  more  than  a  few  of  such  parties,  because 
as  their  number  increases  arithmetically,  their  power  decreases 
geometrically.  That  there  will  always  be  at  least  two,  or  a  few 
such  subdivisions,  is,  because  different  human  minds  do  not  see 
or  feel  alike.  From  these  considerations  it  follows  that  the  Pre 
cincts  ought  to  be  small,  so  that  the  suborganizations  which  will 
arise  in  each,  shall  flow  out  of  it  voluntarily,  and  relate  to  the 
concerns  of  each  immediate  neighborhood  itself;  and  for  similar 
reasons,  the  amount  of  power  and  business  given  to  the  national 
or  large  organ,  should  be  a  minimum,  or  the  smallest  possible,  so 
as  thereby  to  cause  ths  least  amount  of  interference  with  the 
business  and  concerns  of  the  Precinct.  In  other  words,  these 
things  should  be  so,  in  order  to  prevent  local  parties  being 
formed  upon  national  interests,  or  vice-versa.  For  instance,  if 
Precincts  were  so  small  as  to  consist  of  only  one  Family  each, 
and  as  Family  questions  would  seldom  be  introduced  into  na 
tional  politics,  therefore  such  divisions  would  furnish  the  mini 
mum  of  confusion  of  the  two  kinds  of  polit  •  .  Again,  if 


158  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      I.  VII. 

Precincts  became  a  little  larger,  so  as  to  consist  of  only  a  few 
Families  each,  the  confusion  would  become  rather  more  frequent, 
yet  still  would  be  comparatively  rare,  because  the  questions  for 
consideration,  would  be  still  very  local  and  very  personal. 
Hence,  the  larger  the  Precincts  are  made,  the  greater  will  be 
the  confusion  of  the  two  kinds  of  politics,  and  vice-versa. 
§  2.  Conditions  of  population. 

As  to  the  actual  size  of  these  Precincts,  the  most  important 
consideration  by  far  is  density  of  population.  The  general 
theory  points  at  from  10,000  to  20,000,  as  being  the  highest 
number  that  should  constitute  a  Precinct,  as  this  gives  from 
1000  to  2500  adult  men  or  voters  to  each,  which  is  the  highest 
number  that  can  conveniently  meet  and  consult. 

Election  districts  should  not  consist  of  a  larger  population, 
than  would  allow  of  all  old  or  established  residents,  being  tol 
erably  well  acquainted  with  each  other's  personal  and  business 
character,  either  by  direct  acquaintance  and  observation,  or  by 
common  hearsay.  If  Precincts  are  larger  than  this,  then  their 
officers  should  be  chosen  by  electors  each  of  whom  represents 
and  is  from  an  elective  district  as  small  as  herein  mentioned. 
But  the  smallness  makes  the  direct  voting  by  the  people  more 
practicable.  For  the  larger  the  district  or  population,  the  less 
direct  can  the  election  be.  And  a  vast  deal  depends  upon  the 
"Primary"  elections.  And  our  idea  is  to  make  the  Precincts  as 
small  as  the  smallest  district  of  primary  elections,  or  as  near  that 
as  possible. 

The  utmost  population  should  be  such  that  all  persons  entitled 
to  vote  for  any  one  branch  of  its  government,  should  be  able 
to  meet  in  one  building  under  cover,  and  so  that  any  ordinary 
speaker  could  be  heard  from  one  end  to  the  other.  Thus,  its 
size  would  vary  with  the  number  of  voters.  And  whenever 
their  number  became  too  large  to  meet  as  described,  either  the 
Precinct  would  have  to  be  divided,  or  an  additional  division  be 
made  of  its  representative  houses,  or  an  increase  of  age  or  other 
qualifications  for  suffrage. 

Smallness  also  secures  to  each  of  the  people,  mutual  knowl 
edge  of  the  other,  and  mutual  good  feeling,  so  that  government  is 
more  practicable,  and  happiness  more  complete,  all  being  agreed. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  desirable  that  the  population  of  each 


SIZE   OF    THE    PRECINCTS.  159 

Precinct,  should  be  sufficient  to  enable  it  to  select  one  repre 
sentative  to  the  national  legislature  or  congress,  for  itself,  with 
out  being  joined  in  a  congressional  or  senatorial  district  with 
any  other  Precinct,  so  long  as  it  remains  possible  to  avoid  it. 
At  the  same  time,  the  congress  itself  must  not  be  larger  than 
can  conveniently  meet,  debate  and  consult.  Now,  a  national 
population  of  Fifty  Million,  would  require  that  each  Precinct 
should  contain  at  least  Twenty  Thousand  average  population ; 
because  if  less,  then  the  congress  would  have  to  consist  of  more 
than  Twenty  Five  Hundred  members.  Hence  arises  the  neces 
sity  of  not  making  the  Precincts  smaller  than  are  required  by 
the  fundamental  conditions  before  mentioned. 

The  only  possibilities  for  allowing  larger  populations  to  the 
Precincts,  lie  in  the  direction,  either  of  increasing  the  age  of 
suffrage,  or  otherwise  democratically  lessening  the  number  of 
voters,  or  else  in  the  direction  of  the  electoral  colleges  or  houses 
of  delegates,  for  the  special  purpose  of  electing  all  general  offi 
cers.  And  these  delegates  must  be  FREE, — not  pledged  to  vote 
for  any  particular  candidates.  For,  our  fundamental  principle 
is,  that  the  number  of  direct  voters  for  any  candidate  must 
always  be  within  the  limits  of  probable  personal  acquaintance 
ship,  both  with  the  candidate  and  with  each  other,  and  of  con 
veniently  assembling  in  consultation.  To  accomplish  this  object, 
Precincts  might  be  subdivided  into  wards ;  but  the  voluntary 
and  spontaneous  division  of  the  people  themselves  (within  the 
Precinct)  into  Corporations  as  shown  under  that  head,  is  much 
the  better  plan ;  ajid  any  delegate-system,  really  such,  would  be 
more  acceptable  to  the  people  in  that  way.  But  the  considera 
tion  of  that  way,  must  be  deferred  to  its  proper  head. 

An  obvious  corollary  from  the  foregoing  principles,  is,  that 
woman-suffrage  is  so  far  an  erroneous  movement,  lessening  the 
probabilities  of  decreasing  the  size  of  Precincts  to  the  proper  and 
necessary  smallness. 

§  3.   Conditions  of  Locality. 

As  to  the  extent  of  ground  or  territory  to  be  embraced  in  a* 
Precinct,  it  should  not  be  larger  than  would  allow  each  man,  or 
each  voter,  to  travel  by  the  usual  methods,  to  and  back  from  the 
place  of  meeting,  conveniently  in  one  day.     In  case  the  popula 
tion  was  too  scattered  for  such  a  limit  of  territory,  the  theory 


160  BK-  II.      PRECINCT.      I.  VII. 

then  would  be, — that  some  merely  temporary  arrangement,  anal 
ogous  to  the  principle  of  United-States-territorial  government, 
be  made,  until  the  population  became  sufficiently  concentrated 
on  such  a  tract,  say  of  not  more  than  about  fifty  miles  diameter, 
the  place  of  meeting  being  central,  and  not  more  than  twenty- 
five  miles  from  the  circumference  or  boundary. 

As  the  essential  idea  of  Precinct  is  neighborhood, — both  popu 
lation  and  locality  must  be  small  enough  to  admit  of  the  usual 
feelings  of  real  neighbors.  Therefore  the  word  neighbor,  in 
common  usage,  as  it  contracts  or  expands  for  different  localities, 
is  an  excellent  definitive  for  the  varying  size  of  Precincts. 

If  largeness  of  territory  be  offered  as  a  reason  why  a  state 
should  be  recognized  as  such,  relying  upon  the  hope  of  an  in 
crease  ;  then  that  reason  is  equally  as  great,  why  it  should  not 
be  so  recognized,  for  it  is  so  sparsely  settled  that  the  inhabitants 
live  too  far  apart,  and  consequently  are  too  little  acquainted 
with  each  other.  And  if  it  is  really  going  to  increase  so  fast,  it 
will  not  have  long  to  wait. 

If  it  be  said  that  the  idea  for  the  maximum  size  of  the  Pre 
cinct  here  presented,  would  not  answer  for  the  settlement  of  our 
new  lands :  we  answer  that  our  method  of  settling  them  has 
been  too  unscientific,  and  entirely  too  extravagant  and  diffuse. 
This  we  shall  endeavor  to  prove  at  large  in  the  article  on  land, 
under  Property.  It  is  the  land-treatment  that  is  wrong,  not 
our  Precinct  system.  Besides,  even  if  modifications  were  neces 
sary  in  the  wild  woods,  that  would  be  no  argument  for  them, 
where  they  were  not  necessary. 

In  regard  to  boundaries,  it  is  of  course  desirable  that  natural 
boundaries  should  be  preferred,  where  they  can  be  obtained ; — 
by  natural  boundaries  we  mean  Rivers,  Creeks,  &c., — but  in 
modern  times  and  small  Precincts,  we  can  seldom  have  any 
thing  better  than  roads  or  streets;  fences  or  walls.  But  these 
latter  can  be  made  the  best  of  all  possible  boundaries.  At  any 
rate,  street  boundaries  are  poor  ones,  because  they  call  for  double 
jurisdiction  in  the  places  most  frequented ;  and  rivers  do  some 
what  the  sa.ne,  in  thickly  settled  localities. 


PREFACE   TO   THE   SPECIAL   ARGUMENTS.  161 

PART   II. 

SPECIAL    ARGUMENTS    FOR    THE    THEORY. 
CHAP. -I.      PREFACE. 

§  1.   Classification  of  Theories. 

The  dispute  about  the  relative  rights  of  State  and  Nation, 
may  be  spun  out  almost  indefinitely,  by  writers  who  have  no 
scientific  system  wherein  to  place  them ;  according  as  they  hold 
to  one  or  another  of  various  theories,  which  no  one  knows  either 
the  origin  or  the  evidences  of.  These  various  theories  of  the 
fundamental  relations  between  State  and  Nation,  may  be  summed 
up  into  three  classes,  which  are  here  presented  as  a  convenient 
outline  for  meditation  on  the  subject,  and  for  the  classification 
of  all  the  arguments  upon  it;  for  the  use  of  persons  who  may 
wish  to  pursue  the  subject  in  detail,  further  than  we  can  spare 
time  to  do : — Only  remarking  that  ours,  is  what  is  here  called 
the  III.  THEORY. 

(I.  Theory). — Supremacy  of  the  Nation.  States  are  Corpora 
tions  with  charters  from  the  Nation  alone. 

(1)  (a)  Either : — Temporary,  at  the  option  of  the  Nation  : 
(b)  or : — Perpetual. 

(2)  (a)  Either : — With  Definite  limited  charters : 

(6)  or : — With  Indefinite  charters  altered  by  time  and  cir 
cumstance. 

(II.  Theory). — Supremacy  of  the  States.  The  Nation  is  a 
confederate  Union  :— 

(1)  (a)  Either : — Temporary,  at  the  option  of  the  States  : 
(6)  or: — Perpetual. 

(2)  (a)  Either  : — With  Definite  and  written  charters : 

(6)  or: — With  Indefinite  charters  altered  by  time  and  cir 
cumstance. 

(III.  Theory). — Balances  of  State  and  Nation :  Both  as  co 
existent  in  the  people,  as  distinct  Units : 

(1)  (a)  Either :— Alterably : 
(6)  or : — Unalterably. 

(2)  (a)  Either  :— With  Definite  written  charters : 

11 


IQ2  BK.  II.      PRECINCT.     II.  I. 

(6)  or : — With  Indefinite  charters  altered  by  time  and  cir 
cumstance. 

(3)  (a)  Both  : — For  all  Internal  peace,  order,  and  fraternity 
between  Individuals  and  States,  within  the  limitations  of  State- 
rights. 

(6)  And : — For  all  External  International  relations,  with 
out  limitations  of  State-rights ! 

§  2.  Limits  of  the  special  or  collateral  Arguments. 

In  the  foregoing  article,  THE  GENERAL  VIEW  AND  STATE 
MENTS  of  our  theory,  are  really  a  general  argument  for  it. 
Moreover,  most  of  those  statements  contain  special  parts  that 
are  direct  and  formal  arguments  for  various  portions  of  the 
theory,  as  they  pass  along.  Thus  the  historical  statement  con 
tained  arguments,  some  drawn  from  the  general  course  of  his 
tory,  some  from  the  history  of  the  United  States.  The  scientific 
statements  consist  entirely  of  analogies  which  are  arguments  in 
substance.  The  comparisons  with  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  presented  the  reasons  for  differing  in  a  few  places  from 
that  great  and  as  yet  unapproached  political  document.  And 
the  discussion  of  size  was  a  direct  argument  for  our  system,  be 
cause  in  this  country  where  we  are  so  familiar  with  the  principle 
of  state  rights,  and  of  independent  sovereignty  within  limits, 
the  question  is  more  one  of  size  than  of  any  thing  else. 

Furthermore,  we  will  find  some  arguments  when  we  come  to 
the  discussion  of  NATION,  and  determine  its  true  location,  and 
that  it  is  not  the  sole  unit,  nor  even  the  most  active  unit  of 
political  society ;  and  that  it  does  not  occupy  any  such  a  position 
of  absolute  power  toward  the  Precincts,  but  what  in  the  progress 
of  history  the  power  of  Mankind  over  IT  should  be  similar. 
Indeed,  that  position  is  almost  drawn  (in  the  Introduction  itself) 
in  the  discussion  of  the  Units,  and  their  necessary  balances. 

Many  of  our  arguments  for  the  Precinct  are  better  considered 
under  Corporation ;  for  while  they  apply  equally  to  both,  they 
are  better  considered  under  the  latter ;  because  in  the  common 
theories,  it  is  the  more  familiar  organ,  and  still  more,  because 
the  arguments  are  true  in  their  own  nature,  entirely  without 
respect  to  any  ideas  of  locality.  And  for  these  arguments,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  that  Article. 

In  arguments  of  this  kind,  it  should  always  be  borne  in  mind 


THE    GEOGRAPHICAL- ARGUMENT.  163 

that  the  question  is,  not  whether  what  one  advocates  is  perfect, 
but  whether  it  is  better  than  what  the  opposing  disputants  ad 
vocate.  The  question  is,  not  whether  the  government  under 
small  Precincts  is  infallible,  but  whether  it  is  not  better  than  a 
government  of  large  states,  or  an  entirely  consolidated  one. 

The  neighborhood  is  the  real  germ  of  the  state,  and  of  its 
rights  of  government,  both  theoretically  and  historically.  This 
proposition  appeals  to  the  human  heart  as  well  as  to  history. 
Hence,  the  burden  of  proof  ought  to  be  upon  those  who  main 
tain  the  preference  of  large  states  as  against  small  Precincts. 
This  would  be  so,  even  if  the  doctrine  of  small  Precincts  were 
not  essential  to  the  sound  general  theory  of  government,  and 
even  if  there  were  no  particular  arguments  to  show  the  supe 
riority  of  the  rights  and  of  the  effects  of  the  small  Precincts : 
for  it  is  in  the  Precinct  or  near  neighborhood,  that  civil  govern 
ment  necessarily  BEGINS,  and  will  always  spontaneously  reor 
ganize  after  distractions  or  interruptions.  But  nevertheless,  we 
will  proceed  with  other  arguments  as  we  may  be  able. 

CHAP.  II.      THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   ARGUMENT. 

§  1 .  Forms  of  the  Continents. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  observed  by  the  great  geographers, 
that  progressive  civilization  has  been  almost  entirely  confined  to 
the  countries,  the  most  indented  by  seas  and  oceans.  Thus  Eu 
rope  has  6 1  miles  of  coast  to  each  1,000  square  miles  of  conti 
nent,  whilst  Asia  has  only  2J.  What  is  thereby  gained,  is  not 
merely  an  increased  extent  of  coast  line  facilitating  commerce, 
but  many  abrupt  and  long  peninsulas,  which  preserve  the  indi 
vidualities  of  tribes  and  districts.  Thus  Guyot  (p.  46,  "  Earth 
and  Man")  says  :  of  Europe :  "  Its  principal  mass  is  deeply  cut 
in  all  parts  by  the  ocean  and  by  inland  seas,  and  seems  almost 
on  the  point  of  resolving  itself  into  peninsulas.  These  penin 
sulas  themselves,  as  Greece,  Scandinavia,  repeat  to  infinity  the 
phenomena  of  articulation  and  indentation  of  coasts,  which  are 
characteristic  of  the  entire  continent.  The  inland  seas  and  the 
portions  of  the  ocean,  its  outer  limits  enclose,  form  nearly  half 
of  its  surface.  *  *  *  Thus  it  is  the  continent  most  open  to  the 
sea  for  foreign  connections,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  the  most 
individualized,  and  the  richest  in  local  and  independent  dis- 


164  BK-  IL    PRECINCT.      II.  II. 

tricts."  It  is  true  that  Asia  has  extensive  peninsulas ;  the  places 
of  origin  of  the  ancient  civilizations,  Arabia,  the  two  Indies, 
Mandchouria  and  China.  But  the  influence  of  these  peninsulas 
was  overcome  by  the  immensity  of  the  unbroken  continent,  to 
which  they  in  comparison  formed  only  small  extremities.  Thus 
Guyot  (p.  46)  says :  "Asia  is  a  mighty  trunk,  the  numerous 
members  of  which,  however,  make  only  a  fifth  of  its  mass.  In 
Europe,  the  members  overrule  the  principal  body,  the  branches 
cover  the  trunk,"  and  (p.  45) :  "  The  extent  of  this  continent 
[Asia]  is  such,  that,  in  spite  of  the  depth  of  the  indentations, 
there  yet  remains  at  its  centre  a  greatly  preponderating  mass  of 
undivided  land,  which  commands  the  maritime  regions,  as  the 
body  commands  the  limbs."  These  all  (p.  296)  "  are  so  many 
new  Individuals,  exciting  each  other  reciprocally  to  animation." 
Moreover,  other  geographical  conditions  co-operate  to  make  true 
Precincts.  "  The  ground  is  everywhere  cut  and  crossed  by 
chains  of  mountains,  moulded  in  a  thousand  fashions  in  such  a 
way  as  to  ,present,  within  the  smallest  possible  space,  the  greatest 
number  of  districts  physically  independent."  Again  :  "  No  con 
tinent  is  more  fitted,  by  the  multiplicity  of  the  physical  regions 
it  presents,  to  bring  into  being  and  to  raise  up  so  many  different 
nations  and  peoples."  And  (pp.  313-14)  he  says :  "  The  assim 
ilation  of  the  peoples  of  Europe,  stops  far  short  of  confounding 
their  distinctive  qualities.  Not  long  since  the  world  saw  them, 
*  *  *  protesting  against  the  complete  fusion,  seemingly  about  to 
annihilate  their  individual  existence,  and  threatening  to  carry 
them  back  to  the  chaos  of  a  homogeneous  unity.  *  *  *  Each 
of  the  great  physical  districts  composing  that  continent,  in  reality 
sustains  a  people  whose  moral  and  intellectual  character,  apti 
tude,  talents,  differ  as  much  as  their  language,  from  those  of 
their  brethren.  Each  of  these  Nations  plays,  in  the  great  drama 
of  history,  a  special  part  in  accordance  with  its  particular  gifts, 
and  altogether,  they  form  in  truth  and  reality  one  of  those  rich 
organic  unities,  which  we  have  recognized  as  being  the  natural 
result  of  all  regular  and  healthy  growth."  Again,  reasoning 
from  the  greater  to  the  less,  and  observing  that  even  the  conti 
nents  themselves  are  great -types  of  the  uses  of  locality  itself, 
however  small,  Guyot  says  (p.  323):  "  That  the  three  continents 
of  the  North  are  organized  for  the  development  of  man.  *  *  * 


THE    GEOGRAPHICAL   ARGUMENT.  165 

That  each  of  these  three  continents,  by  virtue  of  its  very  struc 
ture  and  of  its  physical  qualities,  has  a  special  function  in  the 
education  of  Mankind.  *  *  *  That  the  entire  physical  creation 
corresponds  to  the  moral  creation,  and  is  only  to  be  explained 
by  it.  *  *  *  It  is  not  perhaps  without  some  surprise,  that  we 
behold  privileged  continents  and  races  almost  unalterably  smit 
ten  with  a  character  of  inferiority.  And  yet,  why  be  surprised 
at  this?  Is  it  not  the  attribute  of  God  to  dispense  His  gifts  t  > 
whom  He  will,  and  as  He  will  ?  Do  we  not  know  that  in  every 
organism,  there  are  needed  divers  members,  clothed  with  func 
tions  more  or  less  exalted,  but  alike  necessary  ?  We  shall  see 
that  this  great  contrast  of  the  historical  continents,  and  the  con 
tinents  of  the  inferior  races,  seems  established  by  Providence  AS 

A    STANDING    INVITATION  ADDRESSED   TO    MAN,   BIDDING    HOI 

UNFOLD  A  NEW  ACTIVITY.   *  *  *  For  the  law  of  contrasts  in 
the  order  of  nature,  is  the  law  of  love  in  the  moral  order." 
§  2.   Geographical  course  of  Civilization. 

Again,  Guyot  (pp.  300-1)  says:  "The  first  glance  we  cast 
upon  the  annals  of  the  Nations,  enables  us  to  perceive  a  singular 
but  incontestable  fact,  that  the  civilizations  representing  the 
highest  degree  of  culture  ever  attained  by  man,  at  the  different 
periods  of  his  history,  do  not  succeed  each  other  in  the  same 
places,  but  pass,  from  one  country  to  another,  from  one  conti 
nent  to  another,  following  a  certain  order.  This  order  may  be 
called  the  geographical  order  of  history"  (or  of  civilization). 
*  *  *  "  Tradition  universally  represents  the  earliest  men  de 
scending,  it  is  true,  from  the  high  table-lands  of  Europe."  "The 
traditions  of  the  Chinese  place  the  first  progenitors  of  that  people 
on  the  high  table-land,  whence  the  great  rivers  flow ;  they  make 
them  advance,  station  by  station,  as  far  as  the  shores  of  the  ocean. 
The  people  of  the  Brahmins  come  down  from  the  regions  of  the 
Hindo-Khu  and  from  Cashmere,  into  the  plains  of  the  Indus 
and  the  Ganges :  Assyria  and  Bactriana  receive  their  inhabitants 
from  the  table-lands  of  Armenia  and  Persia." 

Again,  speaking  of  the  ancient  civilization  of  China,  Hin- 
doostan,  Syria,  Arabia,  Egypt  and  even  Judea,  Guyot  says  (pp. 
306-7) :  "  During  the  long  centuries  of  these  first  ages,  man 
has  therefore  learned  but  one  thing,  that  he  depends  on  the  will 
of  a  master,  but  that  master  is  an  inexorable  despot  devoLl  of 


166  BK-  II-     PRECINCT,     ii.  ir. 

love.  He  can  only  fear  him  ;  -if  he  obeys  him,  it  is  as  a  slave ; 
he  loves  him  not  nor  adores  him,  for  love  presuppose?  lib 
erty.  Men  cannot  remain  thus.  A  cry  of  liberty  makes  itself 
heard;  it  re-echoes  to  the  depths  of  that  East  which  groans 
in  its  chains.  In  a  small  corner  of  the  earth,  neighboring  still 
to  the  East,  but  admirably  organized,  in  that  small  peninsula  of  - 
Greece,  where  all  the  varied  contrasts  of  the  whole  continent 
seem  to  be  repeated  in  a  narrow  space,  under  a  climate  blessed 
of  Heaven,  a  new  people  arise,  upon  a  new  land,  a  free  people, 
a  people  of  brethren,"  (and  we  add,  a  people  consisting  of  sev 
eral  small  and  perpetually  distinct  tribes  and  Precincts.)  "  With 
them  the  period  of  youth  commences;  human  consciousness 
awakes  with  energy ;  man  recovers  himself.  *  *  *  Who  can  de 
scribe  all  there  is  of  fresh  and  youthful  energy,  in  that  people 
of  artists  and  philosophers,  whose  efforts  open  to  us  a  world  en 
tirely  new?  This  is  no  longer  the  world  of  nature;  it  is  that 
of  the  human  soul.  Everything,  in  fact,  with  the  Greek,  bears 
that  eminently  human  character  which  betrays  the  preponder 
ance  of  human  personality,  and  the  energy  of  individual  char 
acter.  *  *  *  The  Greek  no  longer  goes  to  the  outer  world  of 
nature  in  search  of  wisdom,  but  descends  to  the  depths  of  hu 
man  consciousness.  With  Socrates  and  his  school,  philosophy 
has  passed  from  the  realm  of  nature  into  the  realm  of  man ;  she 
has  become  a  moral  philosophy.  In  the  social  life  of  the 
Greeks,  no  more  *  *  *  of  those  hard  despotisms  *  *  which  by 
regulating  human  existence  in  detail,  hinder  its  improvement ; 
but  communities  of  free  and  equal  men,  and  the  predominance 
of  democracy, — of  Individual  and  local  life;  these  are  its  char 
acteristics/' 

All  history  and  all  experience  corroborate  these  truths.  But 
in  order  to  apply  them  to  present  times,  we  must  remember  that 
those  localities  anciently  contained  but  small  populations  com 
paratively,  in  their  days  of  intellectual  progress  and  develop 
ment;  and  that  they  prove  our  theory  of  the  Precinct,  as  well  as, 
or  even  more  than  they  prove  the  necessity  of  nationality.  The 
political  cause  of  the  downfall  of  the  Greek  democracies,  was 
not  their  preservation  of  the  rights  of  the  Precinct,  but  their 
being  without  ANY  adequate  or  permanent  central  government, 
whereby  the  nationality  would  be  politically  expressed. 


ANALOGIES   WITH   PHYSICAL   NATURE.  IQf 

The  experience  of  history  is  against  the  cultivation  of  nation 
ality,  to  the  extent  of  the  subversion  of  all  local  rights.  The 
Romans  allowed  the  natives  of  different  Nations,  to  have  their 
own  laws  in  their  various  places  of  foreign  residence.  The 
recognition  of  a  few  Precinct-rights,  has  come  down  even  in  the 
modern  laws  of  England,  both  in  special  local  customs  and  in 
general  powers,  as  in  Isle  of  Man  and  of  Jersey,  and  several 
other  places.  There  are  also  specialties,  not  confined  to  one 
locality  only ;  as  Burgage,  Gavelkind,  Copy-hold,  and  Villein- 
socage.  These  specialties  relate  chiefly  to  the  titles  of  real 
estate. 

Even  the  poor  inhabitants  of  India,  were  as  happy  with  their 
Precinct-system  as  their  false  religion  would  allow  them  to  be, 
until  England  swallowed  it  up  in  a  vast  gulf  of  centralization, 
and  sunk  the  people  into  poverty  and  dependence.  (See  Carey's 
Soc.  Sci.) 

Small  states,  especially  small  free  republics,  are  the  best  gov 
erned,  both  our  own,  and  some  foreign  ones :  as  the  Republic 
of  San  Marino,  the  Cantons  of  Switzerland,  the  small  German 
free  cities  and  states.  Nor  do  we  have  to  go  from  home  to  find 
examples;  for  our  own  small  states  are  better  governed,  politic 
ally  speaking,  than  the  larger  ones.  Rhode  Island,  Connecti 
cut  and  Delaware,  are  much  better  governed  than  New  York  or 
Pennsylvania.  And  life  is  more  respected  in  our  small  cities 
than  in  the  large  ones  in  the  same  neighborhoods.  The  colonies 
of  the  United  States  were  substantially  states  at  first,  yet  with 
but  limited  populations  for  many  years;  and  they  were  the  best 
governments  of  their  age  in  the  world,  and  were  the  germs  of  a 
great  and  we  hope  good  future.  Also,  there  are  many  late  ex 
periments  which  prove  the  great  moral  uses  of  increasing  the 
powers  of  small  districts ;  as  for  instance,  Bethlehem,  Oberlin, 
Vineland,  also  several  large  "  communities." 

CHAP.  III.      ANALOGIES   WITH   PHYSICAL   NATURE. 

§  1.    Variety  in  God's  Creation. 

All  that  infatuation  for  absolute  uniformity  of  religion,  which 
used  to  prevail  in  the  Middle  Ages,  seems  concentrated,  in  the 
United  States,  into  the  one  idea  of  producing  sameness  of  polit 
ical  organizations.  And  yet  the  story  goes,  a  certain  great  bigot 


168  BK-  H-    PRECINCT.      I}.  III. 

could  not  make  a  few  watches  keep  time  alike.  And  whence 
indeed  comes  this  insatiable  desire  among  Americans  (we  call 
ourselves  so),  to  force  all  political  organizations  into  some  one 
pet  form,  and  under  one  central  human  power ;  suppressing  all 
variety,  and  blotting  out  all  individual  independent  develop 
ment?  It  does  not  come  from  nature.  Behold  the  infinite 
variety  of  creatures,  both  in  the  vegetable  and  animal  worlds. 
Says  Dr.  Dick  :  "  What  an  immense  space  in  the  scale  of  animal 
life,  intervenes  between  an  animalcule,  which  appears  only  the 
size  of  a  visible  point,  when  magnified  five  hundred  thousand 
times,  and  a  whale  a  hundred  feet  long  and  twenty  broad  !  The 
proportion  of  bulk  between  the  one  of  these  beings  and  the 
other,  is  nearly  as  thirty-four  million  million  million  to  one. 
Yet  all  the  intermediate  space  is  filled  up  with  animated  beings 
of  every  form  and  order!  A  similar  variety  obtains  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom.  It  has  been  calculated  that  some  plants 
which  grow  on  rose-leaves  and  other  shrubs,  are  so  small  that 
it  would  require  more  than  a  thousand  of  them  to  equal  in  bulk 
a  single  plant  of  moss,  and  if  we  compare  a  stem  of  moss  which 
is  generally  not  above  one-sixtieth  of  an  inch,  with  some  of  the 
large  trees  in  Guinea  and  Brazil  of  twenty  feet  diameter,  we 
shall  find  the  bulk  of  the  one  will  exceed  that  of  the  other  no 
less  than  about  three  million  million  times,  which  multiplied  by 
1000  will  produce  three  thousand  million  million,  the  number  of 
times  which  the  large  tree  exceeds  the  rose-leaf  plant.  Yet  this 
immense  interval  is  filled  up  with  plants  and  trees  of  every 
form  and  size !  "With  good  reason  then,  may  we  adopt  the  lan 
guage  of  the  inspired  writers, — '  How  manifold  are  thy  works, 
OLord!'" 

And  we  add;  the  same  variety  pervades  the  whole  stellar  uni 
verse,  so  far  as  telescope  or  Mathematics  or  light  itself  can  reach. 
And  yet,  all  vegetables,  animals,  stars  and  comets,  in  infinite 
variety,  are  working  in  one  connected  system  of  law,  even  in 
the  control  and  government  of  the  infinite  God.  And  shall 
puny  man  present  us  one  uniform  system  of  political  motion  ? 
§  2.  From  Homogeneity  to  Heterogeneity. 

In  Spencer's  writings,  a  philosophical  basis  for  our  Precinct- 
theory,  may  be  found  in  physical  philosophy;  and  the  proof 
also  that  it  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  laws  of  universal 


ANALOGIES   WITH   PHYSICAL   NATURE. 

nature,  animate  and  inanimate;  and  furthermore,  that  as  the 
Population  and  Power  of  a  Nation  increase  as  a  whole,  the 
power  and  independence  of  function,  of  the  separate  parts  must 
increase  also,  and  also  the  number  of  the  subdivisions  of  the  parts, 
— (thus  constituting  a  philosophical  basis  for  our  Precinct-theory, 
stated  in  universal  terms).  That  these  things  are  so,  and  that 
the  violation  of  them  must  produce  political  disease,  disorder,  and 
finally  national  death,  is  quite  accordant  with  the  very  scientific 
generalizations  by  Spencer  (First  Principles,  §  187) :  as  follows: 

"  By  the  aggregate  Solar  System,  as  well  as  by  each  planet  and 
satellite,  progressive  concentration  has  been  and  is  still  being 
exemplified.  In  each  organism,  that  general  incorporation  of 
dispersed  materials  which  causes  growth,  is  accompanied  by 
local  incorporations,  forming  what  we  call  organs.  Every 
society,  while  it  displays  the  aggregative  process,  by  its  increas 
ing  mass  of  population,  displays  it  also  by  the  rise  of  dense 
masses  in  special  parts  of  its  area/7  [cities] :  "  And  in  all  cases, 
along  with  these  direct  integrations,  there  go  the  indirect  inte 
grations  by  which  parts  are  made  mutually  dependent."  [That 
is,  Voluntary  associations,  Federations,  Corporations,  Societies, 
States  and  Provinces].  "  From  this  primary  re-distribution,  we 
were  led  on  to  consider  the  secondary  re-distributions,  by  inquir 
ing  how  there  came  to  be  a  formation  of  parts"  [i.e.  Precincts] 
"  during  the  formation  of  a  whole.  *  *  *  It  turned  out  that  there 
is  habitually  a  passage  from  homogeneity  to  heterogeneity,  along 
with  the  passage  from  diffusion  to  concentration.  While  the 
matter  composing  the  Solar  System  has  been  assuming  a  denser 
form,  it  has  changed  from  unity  to  variety  of  distribution. 
Solidification  of  the  Earth  has  been  accompanied  by  a  progress 
from  comparative  uniformity  to  extreme  multiformity." 

"  In  the  course  of  its  advance  from  a  germ  to  a  mass  of  rela 
tively  great  bulk,  every  plant  and  animal  also  advances  from 
simplicity  to  complexity.  The  increase  of  a  society  in  numbers 
and  consolidation,  has  for  its  concomitant  an  increased  hetero 
geneity,  both  of  its  political  and  industrial  organization.  And 
the  like  holds  of  ALL  super-organic  products — Language,  Sci 
ence,  Art  and  Literature.  But  we  saw  that  these  secondary 
distributions  are  not  thus  completely  expressed.  At  the  same 
time  that  the  parts  into  which  each  whole  is  resolved,  become 


170  BK.  II.      PRECINCT.      II.  III. 

more  unlike  one  another,  they  also  become  more  sharply  marked 
off.  *  *  *  Further  consideration  made  it  apparent  that  the 
increasing  definiteness  which  goes  along  with  increasing  hetero 
geneity,  is  not  an  independent  trait;  but,  that  it  results  from  the 
integration  which  progresses  in  each  of  the  differentiating  parts, 
while  it  progresses  in  the  whole  they  form.  *  *  *  As  fast  as 
there  results  variety  in  the  sizes  and  forms  of  aggregates,  and 
their  relations  to  incident  forces,  there  also  results  variety  in  their 
movements."  And  we  add, — unless  these  various  new  organs 
and  new  functions  be  allowed  to  develop  naturally,  diseases  and 
disorders  must  follow. 

The  Precinct-principle  is  the  only  principle  whereby  every 
separate  function  of  society,  may  have  its  own  new  special  and 
appropriate  local  organ.  Its  effect  is  just  opposite  to  the  na 
tional  system ;  for  the  national  system  presents  all  inducements 
to  make  all  offices  mere  functions  of  the  Nation  itself  as  the  one 
organ  of  governmental  rule.  Whereas  the  Precinct-principle 
makes  that  idea  absolutely  impossible ;  and  presents  the  idea 
of  special  organs  for  each  special  work,  as  the  only  manner  in 
which  such  special  work  can  be  accomplished,  at  least  beyond 
the  Precinct.  Then  the  alternative  becomes  either,  special 
organ,  or  not  special  work,  of  which  the  practical  result  is  only 
one  organ  for  all  functions,  as  in  sponges  and  star-fish. 
§  3.  Concentration  versus  Diffusion  of  Power. 

Centralization  or  concentration  increases  power  at  particular 
points.  But  diffusion  of  power  increases  the  total  amount  of 
usable  power  as  a  whole,  by  liberating  more  and  freer  motion, 
and  by  increasing  the  spontaneous  activity  of  all  the  parts,  and, 
at  the  same  time  lessening  the  power  lost  partly  in  friction,  and 
partly  in  the  central  cohesion. 

But  these  good  results  can  only  follow  of  course,  after  cen 
tralization  procures  and  maintains  general  peace  and  general 
freedom;  that  is  to  say,  whilst  it  prevents  the  Precincts  from 
interfering  with  each  other,  or  with  the  private  rights  of  In 
dividuals,  and  preserves  them  from  being  interfered  with  by 
foreign  Nations. 

This  Precinct-system  will  give  large  power  to  a  greater  number 
of  persons;  and  this  dividing  power,  whilst  at  the  same  time 
stimulating  to  its  faithful  exercise,  will  also  render  a  posthu- 


ANALOGIES   WITH   PHYSICAL   NATURE.  ]>l\ 

mous  fame,  of  more  relative  activity  and  importance  as  a  motive, 
because  it  will  present  a  far  larger  number  of  vacancies  for  it. 
For,  the  great  and  good  men  of  little  states,  are  remembered  as 
long  as  (and  often  loved  more  affectionately  than)  those  of  larger 
ones. 

§  4.  Sociological  Experiment. 

The  absolute  necessity  for  Sociological  experiment,  in  order  to 
the  improvement  of  society,  has  already  been  sufficiently  spoken 
of,  in  the  Summary  Introduction.  Therefore,  the  most  that 
could  be  done  here,  is  briefly  to  point  ou,t  that  our  Precinct  sys 
tem  affords  one  of  the  finest  possible  fields,  and  the  very  first 
practicable  one,  for  the  trial  of  such  experiments. 

The  Precinct-principle  opens  the  way  for  true  and  voluntary 
sociological  experiments.  If  one  Precinct  commits  errors,  it  will 
soon  suffer  the  natural  consequences  thereof,  and  others  can  avoid 
the  error.  If  one  discovers  or  invents  or  introduces  any  good, 
others  can  freely  follow. 

In  the  case  of  Individuals  finding  themselves  not  in  sym 
pathy  with  the  Precinct  wherein  they  reside,  the  fault  may  be, 
either  in  the  Individual  or  in  the  neighborhood  itself.  The 
sympathies  and  feelings  which  are  disturbed  by  the  residence 
among  them,  of  an  Individual  out  of  harmony,  may  be  bad 
feelings  or  they  may  be  good  ones.  It  is  presumption  for  others 
to  pretend  to  judge  in  most  cases.  Who  is  to  decide?  The 
answer  is,  that  as  long  as  the  resident  is  free  and  able  to  go  to 
some  Precinct  where  he  will  be  in  harmony,  and  to  take  his  pos 
sessions  or  their  value  with  him,  in  such  case,  no  decision  of  the 
mind  is  needed  to  be  made  upon  the  subject  as  to  who  is  right. 
Only  let  the  Precinct  enjoy  its  own  liberty,  without  infringing 
the  equal  liberty  of  others.  Only  let  it  continue  on  its  own  plan 
awhile,  and  the  fruits  will  evidence  plainly  who  was  wrong, 
— the  Individual  or  the  Precinct.  Small  Precincts  that  are 
wrong  will  not  long  go  on  harmoniously.  The  smaller  the 
Precinct,  within  reasonable  limits,  the  sooner  will  the  result 
manifest  its  moral  quality.  This  manifestation  however,  will 
prove,  not  the  correctness  or  incorrectness  of  any  one  of  its  prin 
ciples,  but  only  of  the  net-resultant  of  the  whole.  These  un 
derstood  principles  will  soon  work  themselves  fully  into  results, 
and  show  their  true  character.  Only  thus  can  the  science  of 


172  BK-  II-      PRECINCT.      II.  IV. 

society  become  much  improved.  Neither  good  nor  evil  can  be 
made  plain  to  the  minds  of  the  people  in  general,  otherwise 
than  by  allowing  systems  to  work  out  into  light,  their  own 
natural  and  true  results. 

In  general,  with  regard  to  all  the  domestic  changes  and  im 
provements,  recommended  in  this  book  on  Social  Science,  or 
in  any  other  book,  or  from  any  other  source,  it  is  possible  to 
try  them,  better,  by  means  of  small  Precincts  than  by  any  other 
method.  And  not  only  so,  but  it  is  the  only  method  whereby 
true  sociological  experiments  can  be  made,  or  whereby  any  so 
ciety  can,  either  attain  ideas  any  considerably  advanced  before  its 
age,  or  prove  such  an  advance  even  if  it  had  attained  it.  Even 
most  national  and  international  questions  would  not  be  alto 
gether  impossible  of  settlement  by  Precinct- trial,  as  many  such 
questions  can  be  solved  as  readily  by  distant  Precincts  of  the 
same  Nation,  as  by  different  Nations. 

CHAP.  IV.      OBJECTS   AND   USES   OF    "LAW." 

§  1.  In  General. 

All  laws  may  be  divided  into  two  sorts ;  as  they  regard  either 
the  thing  commanded  to  be  done,  or,  the  sanction  to  enforce  it. 
The  first  sort  of  laws  may  be  regarded  as  counsels  of  wisdom, 
the  second,  as  punishments  for  the  violation  of  those  counsels. 
The  first,  are  the  primary  and  ultimate  design,  the  second,  are 
only  incidental  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  others.  A  large 
part  of  human  laws  are  only  the  re-enactments  of  the  laws  of 
nature  and  morality ;  of  such,  the  violation  will  always  and 
ultimately  be  followed  by  their  own  natural  and  spiritual  conse 
quences.  Why  then  does  the  law  of  the  land  affix  and  add  any 
arbitrary  punishments?  The  answer  is,  that  the  natural  and 
spiritual  punishments  are  so  often  disbelieved,  so  seldom  ap 
preciated,  and  often  so  long  in  coming,  that  they  are  entirely 
insufficient  as  safeguards  of  human  society. 

Another  lanre  class  of  laws  are  not  re-enactments  of  the  laws 

o 

of  nature  or  morality,  but  only  the  settlement  of  points  indif 
ferent  in  themselves,  or  not  clearly  limited  in  nature  or  moral 
ity;  but  yet  necessary  to  be  settled  definitely  in  some  manner, 
in  order  that  all  persons  may  know  beforehand,  how  to  regulate 
their  affairs  in  regard  to  them.     In  these  cases,  the  necessity  of 


OBJECTS   AND   USES   OF   LAW.  173 

having  arbitrary  sanctions  to  the  prescriptions  of  law,  becomes 
all  the  more  evident,  but  as  yet  those  sanctions  are  hardly  any 
more  necessary  than  in  the  cases  of  the  violations  of  natural  and 
moral  law.  We  say,  as  yet,  for  in  proportion  as  humanity 
improves,  if  indeed  it  will  improve  sufficiently,  the  necessity 
of  arbitrary  sanction  to  natural  law  will  become  less  and  less 
urgent.  For  the  more  men  see  their  true  duties,  and  feel  the 
obligations  of  them,  and  have  faith  in  the  certainty  and  impor 
tance  of  natural  and  spiritual  consequences,  the  less  will  they 
stand  in  need  of  arbitrary  ones.  And  this  again,  greatly  favors 
the  principle  of  self-government  in  Individuals,  which  by  pro 
moting  solid  virtue,  tends  more  and  more  to  render  government 
unnecessary.  Thus  and  only  thus,  can  the  highest  and  best  civil 
liberty  be  attained.  The  "forces"  of  arbitrary  punishment,  and 
of  government  by  others,  can  only  be  generally  disused,  as  Indi 
viduals  become  gradually  more  and  more  perfect  in  se£/"-govern- 
ment. 

The  same  principles  evidently  apply  to  Family-government, 
the  type  of  and  preparation  for  the  state  government.  And 
here  we  must  look  for  the  great  test  and  measure,  of  the  varying 
needs  of  men  for  more  or  less  natural  strictness  and  arbitrariness 
of  government,  namely,  whatever  is  found  to  be  the  decrease  or 
increase  of  necessity  for  arbitrary  Family-government,  and  what 
ever  the  degree  or  the  lack,  of  the  power  of  voluntary  self-control 
in  the  Family,  especially  among  the  children;  THAT  will  be 
found  to  be  both  a  preparation  for,  and  best  measure  of,  the 
amount  of  fitness  for  their  being  entrusted  with  similar  degrees 
of  self-controlling  power  in  the  affairs  of  the  world.  In  other 
words,  it  is  only  in  proportion  as  men  become  fit  for  freedom 
individually,  and  in  Family-relations,  both  as  parents  and  chil 
dren,  that  they  will  become  fit  for  release  from  law  and  force, 
in  civil  and  political  relations. 

Another  idea  in  this  connection  is,  that  if  laws  must  be  uni 
form  for  all  persons  in  the  same  Precinct,  it  follows  that  all  its 
residents  ought  to  be  in  nearly  the  same  moral  degree  of  self- 
control  and  moral  civilization ;  that  is,  should  be  substantially 
in  moral  homogeneity.  Hence,  in  an  old  Nation  with  settled  and 
fixed  habits  and  general  homogeneity,  (which  however  can  only 
be  the  case  in  a  lower  state  of  civilization,)  it  would  not  seem  to 


174  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  IV. 

matter  so  much,  whether  a  government  were  a  great  consolida 
tion,  or  a  union  of  small  Precincts.  But  in  proportion  as  moral 
civilization  increases,  the  moral  and  intellectual  differences  in 
crease,  and  the  necessity  of  Precinct-freedom  increases,  together 
with  a  greater  degree  of  liberty  for  each  to  select  the  Precinct 
best  fitted  for  him;  and,  each  Precinct  to  select  and  invite  the 
Individuals  best  suited  to  IT. 

The  most  effectual  punishment  that  can  be  administered  for 
most  offences,  is  that  which  society  administers  spontaneously, 
through  the  loss  of  social  standing  among  one's  companions  and 
associates.  But  this  kind  of  punishment  is  greatly  modified, 
and  in  many  cases  almost  nullified,  under  the  present  condition  of 
large  territories.  This  nullification  comes  about  in  two  ways.  In 
one  way,  the  citizens  so  frequently  reside  in  a  different  territory 
from  that  in  which  they  transact  business,  that  they  seem  to 
have  two  lives  and  two  representations,  almost  entirely  distinct. 
The  other  way  in  which  this  nullification  of  social  punishment 
is  also  brought  about,  is  the  facility  with  which  offenders  may 
remove  from  one  territory  to  an  adjoining  one,  and  the  certainty 
of  finding?  about  the  same  assortment  of  social  conditions,  and 

O  ' 

opportunities  for  companionship,  that  they  had  found  in  their 
former  residence;  so  that  the  change  is  merely  one  of  persons, 
but  not  of  the  kinds  of  persons.  But  if  the  Nations  were  con 
stituted  into  the  very  small  Precincts  which  we  propose,  persons 
of  similar  moral  dispositions  would  collect  in  Precincts  together ; 
and  offenders  would  often  find  it  very  difficult  to  find  acceptance 
elsewhere,  if  they  made  themselves  discreditable  in  their  own 
Precinct. 

§  2.  Multitude  and  Minutiae  of  affairs. 

Another  argument  for  the  Precinct  theory  is ;  there  exist  too 
many  and  too  minute  affairs  needing  the  interference  of  law,  to 
be  entrusted  to  a  large  state  or  Nation.  Governments  ought  to 
do  so  many  things  which  yet  it  is  obviously  unjust  to  tax  un 
willing  or  dissentient  persons  for,  or  compel  such  to  co-operate 
with  or  conform  to, — and  furthermore,  there  are  so  many  differ 
ent  views  of  rights,  that  the  difficulties  can  only  be  obviated  by 
encouraging  people  of  similar  views  to  reside  and  do  business 
in  the  same  neighborhoods,  and  thereby,  in  conformity  to  their 
own  rules.  The  following  are  some  of  the  subjects  which  belong. 


OBJECTS  AND    USES   OF   LAW.  175 

I 

more  especially  to  the  Precinct,  either  because  of  its  inherent 
right  over  them,  or  because  of  the  uncertainty  of  their  being 
proper  objects  for  government  interference  at  all : — Rights  of 
Conscience,  including  religion  and  church, — Rights  to  Alcoholic 
Liquors  and  to  Luxuries, — Right  and  duty  of  Governmental 
Education, — Right  and  duty  of  Governmental  maintenance  of 
the  poor,  the  care  of  the  sick  and  infirm, — Questions  of  Health 
not  aifecting  localities  or  Individuals  beyond  the  Precinct, — 
Right  of  Marriage  and  Divorce — including  aid  to  widows  and 
needy  children, — Right  of  Women  to  avocations,  to  property, 
and  claims  to  suffrage, — Age  of  Suffrage, — Right  of  Individuals 
to  ignore  Government  when  aggrieved, — Questions  resulting 
from  War,  such  as  Drafting  into  compulsory  service  and  com 
pelling  to  pay  war  taxes, — Control  of  Farming  Lands,  Minfes 
and  Mining  operations, — Streets  and  Roads  within  the  Precinct, 
Manufacturers  and  Retail  Trade, — Paper  Currency. 

Many  persons  will  doubt  the  legitimacy  of  some  of  these 
rights  being  given  to  the  Precincts, — but  even  omitting  the 
subjects  of  currency  and  divorce,  and  perhaps  of  ignoring  the 
state,  enough  other  matters  have  been  mentioned  above,  too 
minute  and  too  multitudinous  in  their  nature,  to  be  accom 
plished  by  national  power  or  under  national  laws. 

In  general  we  may  say  that  many  things,  from  their  local 
nature,  should  require  the  agreement  especially  and  only  of  the 
neighborhoods,  townships,  &c.,  that  are  directly  interested. 
And  mostly,  the  interference  of  one  locality  with  another,  should 
be  in  proportion  to  their  geographical  and  other  nearnesses. 
Therefore  this  question  depends  on  the  size  of  the  Precinct ;  the 
degree  of  right  interference  being  in  inverse  proportion  to  the 
size  of  the  Precincts.  But  the  difference  of  their  interferences, 
is  to  be  more  as  to  the  smallness  of  the  specialty  or  matter,  than 
in  the  principles  to  which  it  relates. 

The  duties  and  consequent  rights  of  a  Precinct  are  what  were 
chiefly  in  Comte's  mind,  in  the  structure  of  his  theory  of  govern 
ment.  And  it  accordingly  exhibits  the  fact  of  its  origin  from 
the  little  plan  of  St.  Simon  (or  Fourier)  applied  to  a  French 
or  other  vast  empire,  comprehending  minutiae  of  regulation,  and 
details,  that  cannot  be  either  justly  or  successfully  applied  to  or 
by  a  large  consolidated  government,  especially  to  or  by  sinful  or 


176  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  V. 

even  imperfect  beings,  as  men  are.  Plato  and  some  other  manu 
facturers  of  ideal  governments,  have  made  a  similar  confusion 
of  the  rights  of  the  different  units.  And  Mulford  and  the  other 
centralizers  are  following  in  their  wake. 

§  3.   Competition  in  Government. 

Then  again,  the  numerousness  of  these  little  Precincts  would 
introduce  the  principle  of  competition  among  governments,  as  a 
practical  motive,  for  daily  use.  Viewing  large  Nations,  we  can 
find  no  such  competition  for  citizens,  at  all  worth  mentioning: 
except  that  between  Nation  and  Nation,  as  the  United  States 
against  Germany  or  Great  Britain.  And  in  the  United  States 
we  cannot  find  any  traces  of  a  competition  of  this  kind  worth 
mentioning,  except  in  the  very  new  States  competing  for  settlers, 
or  in  the  cities  competing  for  this  or  that  particular  kind  of 
trade  or  honor.  There  is  but  little  governmental  competition 
among  us  except  for  short-sighted  or  immediate  results. 

Now,  if  any  could  introduce  this  principle  into  operation 
among  and  between  some  thousands  of  adjoining  townships, 
villages  and  Precincts,  we  can  scarcely  doubt  that  its  effects 
would  be  equally  as  good  as  they  are  among  private  individuals. 
Of  course  we  do  not  mean  to  exalt  competition  as  a  very  good 
thing  in  itself; — we  fondly  hope  for  and  look  forward  to  the  day 
when  it  will  be  greatly  superseded  by  co-operation.  But  so  long 
as  competition  is  needed  among  the  mass  of  Mankind,  individu 
ally,  so  long  and  for  that  very  reason,  it  will  be  needed  among 
Precincts  and  localities.  Even  if  it  were  possible  for  communes 
to  exist,  from  which  the  principle  of  competition  would  be 
effectually  shut  out,  still  there  would  remain  a  necessity  to  have 
competition  between  different  communes.  For  competition  is 
necessary  somewhere  in  everything,  during  the  present  incom 
plete  civilization.  And  the  monopolizing  and  repressing  spirit 
and  policy,  are  just  as  bad  in  government  as  they  were  in  trade 
and  manufactures. 

CHAP.  V.     POLITICAL   OBJECTS   AND   USES. 

§  1.  In  General. 

Smallness  of  territory  produces  mutual  knowledge  of  each 
other,  as  well  as  mutual  good  feeling,  so  that  government  is 
more  practicable,  and  happiness  more  complete ;  the  people  being 


POLITICAL  OBJECTS  AND  USES.  177 

agreed  in  their  general  opinions.  Smallness  of  Precincts  also 
makes  a  direct  vote  by  the  people  more  practicable :  the  larger 
the  district  or  population,  the  less  direct  can  the  representation 
be.  Thus,  the  people  have  both  a  better  opportunity  to  know 
their  representatives  and  officers  personally,  and  also  a  better 
opportunity  to  express  their  own  views  and  intentions.  Such 
are  the  schemes  and  cliques  constantly  forming  to  deceive  the 
people,  both  in  trade  and  politics,  that  ordinary  citizens  cannot 
possibly  know  them  before  they  are  accomplished ;  and  hence 
necessarily  have  to  depend  on  the  characters  of  the  leaders,  and 
therefore  should  know  their  characters  well. 
§  2.  Corruption. 

The  notorious  and  general  selfishness,  partisanship  and  cor 
ruption  of  officials,  whether  in  political,  or  fashion-making,  or 
social  governments,  drive  men  to  the  resort  of  having  small  dis 
tricts  with  a  maximum  of  self-regulating  power,  that  thus  there 
may  exist  the  plainest  and  most  direct  responsibility  to  the 
people,  and  the  least  amount  of  government  by  absentees  and 
strangers.  Thus  all  the  motives  of  Social  Circle  and  personal 
acquaintanceship,  will  be  added  to  the  ordinary  motives,  in  order 
to  induce  official  faithfulness. 

Small  Precincts,  making  up  the  whole  Nation  as  we  propose, 
by  the  greatness  of  their  number,  and  by  the  smallness  of  the 
amount  of  revenue  they  could  afford  to  waste,  as  well  as  by  the 
check  which  would  constantly  be  held  over  their  officers,  by  the 
mere  fact  that  their  doings  were  observed  in  particulars,  by  all 
their  constituents, — would  afford  the  best  possible  political  checks 
against  the  success  of  all  attempts  at  corrupting  the  legislative 
bodies,  as  well  as  against  the  value  or  amounts  that  would  or 
could  be  obtained  by  success  and  skill  in  bribing. 
§  3.  Specialties. 

We  are  all  the  time  having  special  acts  of  superior  Legisla 
tures,  now  for  some  county,  now  for  some  town,  giving  control, 
now  over  temperance,  now  over  its  plan  of  voting,  now  over 
this  thing,  now  over  that.  But  special  legislation  has  been  one 
of  our  greatest  curses,  whether  in  regard  to  corporations,  coun 
ties  or  towns.  Perhaps  it  is  not  generally  known  among  the 
people,  that  nearly  one  fourth  of  the  counties  and  Precincts  in 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  have  had  granted  to  them  special 

12 


178  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  V. 

privileges,  or,  been  put  under  special  restrictions ;  one  thing  to 
one,  and  another  to  another,  not  applied  to  any  of  the  other  Pre 
cincts.  The  Speaker  of  the  Pennsylvania  Senate,  in  his  Inau 
gural,  Jany.  1871,  says :  "  Special  legislation  has  become  the  vice 
of  our  system.  The  prevalence  of  a  general  rule  of  law  over 
our  whole  territory,  upon  subjects  usually  within  the  scope  of 
legislative  action,  is  now  the  EXCEPTION, — and  special  enact 
ments  and  special  privileges  are  found  upon  almost  every  page 
of  our  voluminous  annual  statute  book."  Let  us  have  no  more 
need  thus  to  extend  human  rights  drop  by  drop.  Give  every 
Precinct  its  local  rights  in  ALL  respects,  without  any  more 
specialism.  For  the  true  Precinct-theory  is  the  first  step  into  a 
truly  GENERAL  legislation. 

Some  moral  or  literary  qualifications  might  be  highly  useful 
in  cities,  to  counteract  the  influence  of  mobs;  and  also  especially 
because  cities  are  in  advance  of  the  country  in  some  other  kinds 
of  culture,  so  also  it  would  seem  ought  they  to  be  in  advance  in 
the  culture  and  qualifications  required  for  political  franchises. 
At  any  rate,  it  would  be  well  to  allow  such  Precincts  (within  a 
city),  as  chose,  to  try  some  such  qualifications,  and  see  how  they 
would  compete  with  those  that  refused  any  such  revised  qual 
ifications.  This,  however,  is  to  be  understood,  only  after  the 
general  Introduction  of  the  Precinct-system. 

Our  Precinct-theory  contains  the  only  method  whereby,  under 
the  tenure  of  land  by  the  public,  as  advocated  by  Spencer  (and 
the  present  writer),  the  tenants  can  be  induced  to  improve,  with 
permanent  buildings,  as  thoroughly  as  under  the  private  owner 
ship  tenure,  or  so  very  nearly  as  to  answer  present  purposes. 
This  can  be  accomplished  by  allowing  the  tenant  to  erect  what 
ever  permanent  buildings,  mainly  of  brick,  stone  or  iron,  he 
chooses,  subject  to  general  rules  of  common  sense  and  expe 
diency,  under  the  sanction  of  officers  for  the  judgment  of  the 
case ;  and  then  the  public  giving  the  tenant  a  mortgage  for  the 
amount,  to  run  various  lengths  of  time,  from  50  to  100  years, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  case.  Absolute  proofs  of  the 
actual  cost,  would  be  required.  But  where  is  the  governing 
power  that  could  now  be  safely  trusted  with  such  judgments  ? 
We  may  answer,  nowhere  but  in  small  districts  of  an  honorable, 
moral,  and  well-cultivated  people. 


HUMAN   HAPPINESS.  179 

CHAP.  VI.     HUMAN   HAPPINESS. 

§  1.  In  General. 

Government  and  civilization  are  only  valuable  as  they  pro 
mote  human  happiness.  Human  happiness  depends  more  on 
the  multitude  of  little  things  of  daily  life,  than  on  the  occa 
sional  great  events.  And  connected  with  this  also,  human  hap 
piness  rests  largely  on  closeness  of  sympathy,  sameness  of  view, 
tenderness  of  feeling,  with  those  with  whom  we  are  most  fre 
quently  in  contact.  The  most  ultra  liberty,  in  association  with 
a  people  with  whom  we  were  not  in  sympathy,  would  be  lone 
liness  and  desolation.  A  solitary  man  is  not  so  lonely  in  an 
uninhabited  wilderness,  as  is  a  stranger  in  a  strange  city,  not 
even  speaking  the  language  of  the  people. 

There  can  scarcely  be  a  question,  that  small  isolated  Christian 
populations  are  the  happiest,  and  morally  the  best.  The  Pit- 
cairn-Islanders,  the  Republic  of  San  Marino,  the  Welsh,  the 
Scotch,  the  Irish,  and  the  voluntary  associations  of  religious 
communities  in  America  in  modern  times,  and  the  rush  into 
religious  communities  in  the  early  ages,  all  co-operate  to  prove 
this  idea. 

The  Pitcairn-Islanders,  are  a  splendid  proof  of  the  utility  of 
the  independence  and  isolation  of  Precincts,  so  also  are  the  few 
cases  of  successful  civilization  of  the  North  American  Indians, 
— only  made  successful  by  isolating  their  Precincts.  And  partly 
in  the  same  manner  perhaps,  may  be  explained  the  unexpected 
virtue  and  happiness  of  the  Mormons  in  Utah,  and  of  some  of 
the  free  communists.  "  Evil  communications  corrupt"  the  best 
manners ;  and  even  vice,  in  isolation,  loses  much  of  its  power. 

The  fact  in  nature  and  providence,  that  men  are  involved  in 
the  sufferings  and  partake  of  the  joys  and  honors  of  their  own 
Nation,  and  their  own  Precinct,  proves,  that  Nature  intends,  that 
men  should  depart  from  localities  whose  sentiments  or  principles 
they  radically  dissent  from,  and  should  seek  other  localities 
whose  principles  they  approve  of,  and  thus  become  justly  entitled 
to  and  affectionately  participant  in,  the  sufferings  and  the  joys  of 
their  localities,  whether  Nation  or  Precinct.  But  still,  the  obli 
gations  and  natural  "  indications"  for  removal  from  Precinct  to 
Precinct,  are  much  stronger  than  for  removal  from  Nation  to 


ISO  BK.  II.      PRECINCT.      II.  VI. 

Xation,  because  the  removal  from  Precinct  to  Precinct  is  com 
paratively  so  very  much  easier  than  the  other. 

As  Comte  has  done  much  to  show  how  great  respect  a  govern 
ment  ought  to  pay  to  its  thinkers,  and  why  and  how  it  ought  to 
take  care  of  them ;  so  Spencer  has  done  much  to  show  the  unal 
terable  nature  and  inviolability  of  Individual  liberty,  as  against 
majorities,  equally  as  truly  as  against  aristocracies.  But  when 
it  comes  to  the  application  of  their  own  principles,  neither  of 
those  writers  seems  to  have  hit  upon  the  happiest  method.  We 
have  now  however,  only  to  do  with  their  theories  so  far  as 
they  relate  to  Precinct-rights  and  order.  And  there  is  no  method 
for  securing  the  independence,  happiness  and  rewards  of  good 
thinkers,  so  successful  as  the  Precinct-system. 
§  2.  Individual  Liberty. 

The  fullest  possible  allowance  for  Individual  rights  and  free 
dom,  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  other  men's  equal  freedom,  can 
only  be  attained,  either  in  a  state  of  isolation  from  society,  which 
is  the  road  to  barbarism,  or  else  in  such  a  variety  of  Precincts, 
as  will  allow  each  Individual  to  find  some  one  or  more  persons 
sufficiently  near  his  own  ideas,  as  to  justify  being  regarded  so  for 
the  usual  practical  purposes  of  life.  And  this  variety  is  possible, 
only  by  making  the  Precincts  very  small,  so  that  they  shall  be 
numerous,  and  the  variety,  brought  within  convenient  or  accessi 
ble  distances.  And  the  great  "  emancipation"  question  among 
all  highly  civilized  peoples,  is  the  question  relative  to  the 
Emancipation  of  the  Precinct. 

The  Precinct-system  is  the  best  method  whereby  to  enable 
men  as  Individuals,  to  avoid  "government  control,"  (as  Spencer 
demands,  meaning  of  course,  national  controt)  Instead  of  lib 
erty  to  "  ignore  the  state,"  we  would  have  liberty  to  change 
one's  Precinct  residence.  Spencer,  it  is  true,  not  thinking  of 
the  Precinct-theory,  carries  his  idea  of  "  ignoring  the  state"  to 
an  extreme,  when  lie  describes  this  right  as  "the  attitude  of  a 
citizen  in  a  condition  of  voluntary  outlawry."  But  remember, 
Spencer  was  thinking  only  of  outlawry  from  the  Nation.  And 
Mulford's  reply  (p.  274)  to  Spencer  is  not  sound.  Thus  his 
reply  says :  "  If  then  *  *  *  Mr.  Spencer  assert  and  exercise  his 
rights,  and  while  maintaining  his  right  to  ignore  the  state,  is 
robbed  by  some  vagrant,  of  course  he  cannot  recover  through 


HUMAN   NATURE. 

the  aid  of  the  government,  the  property  which  he  has  lost;  or 
the  vagrant,  not. having  determined  himself  to  ignore  the  state, 
may  bring  the  power  of  the  government,  being  the  agency  in  his 
employ,  to  secure  him  in  his  actual  possession, — IT  of  course  re 
fusing  to  admit  the  claim  of  one  who  had  ignored  the  state." 
Now  this  reply  to  Spencer  is  not  sound ;  first,  because  it  does 
not  follow  that  a  state  must  of  course  "refuse  to  admit"  a 
person's  claims,  merely  because  it  was  not  bound  IN  DUTY  to 
recognize  them ;  but  second  and  chiefly,  because  the  vagrant  is 
by  the  supposition,  under  the  state  and  bound  to  obey  its  laws, 
and  therefore  has  no  right  to  rob  or  murder  anybody.  The  fact 
is  that  Mr.  Spencer's  idea  simply  is,  that  the  person  who  ignores 
the  state  is  in  the  relative  condition  to  the  state,  somewhat  simi 
lar  to  what  a  foreigner  was  held  by  ancient  national  law,  and  is 
still  held  by  barbarians,  namely,  at  their  government's  mercy  : — 
but  it  does  not  follow  as  Mulford  has  it,  that  such  person  is  at 
the  individual  mercy  of  any  one  who  chooses  to  maltreat  him. 
Both  these  writers  are  possessed  by  Nationality ;  the  one  feels 
the  tyrant's  goad  and  would  tear  its  heart  out,  the  other  is 
pleased,  and  "licks  the  rod."  We  conclude,  Mr.  Spencer  is 
right  in  the  principle  at  bottom,  although  not  to  the  unlimited 
extent  he  argues ;  and  that,  only  a  system  of  Precincts  can  be 
trusted  to  carry  it  out. 

CHAP.  VII.     HUMAN   NATURE. 

Personal  attractions  have  strength  like  the  chemical  forces,  so 
also  have  home  and  locality ;  whereas,  the  artificial  states  or  dis 
tricts,  and  even  the  Nation  itself,  have  comparatively  only  the 
strength  of  gravitation.  Thus  it  is,  that  Social  Circle  and  Pre 
cinct  have,  in  actual  life  the  strongest  power  on  man  naturally, 
and  the  first  government  claims  upon  him  that  he  voluntarily 
yields  to. 

Human  nature  itself  makes  more  account  of  Precinct  than  it 
does  of  Nation.  There  may  be  one  man  in  ten  thousand,  or 
even  one  in  one  thousand,  who  in  a  time  of  great  excitement, 
may  be  willing  to  give  his  property  or  even  his  life,  for  his 
Nation.  But  there  can  be  found  nearly  everywhere,  and  in 
ordinary  times  without  extraordinary  excitement,  one  man  in  a 
hundred,  perhaps  one  in  ten,  who  may  be  willing,  according  to 


BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  VIII. 

his  means,  to  deny  himself  dollars,  more  or  fewer,  for  the  benefit 
of  his  own  immediate  neighborhood,  and  even  to  risk  his  life  for 
it  if  necessary.  And  even  in  great  sacrifices  for  national  patriot 
ism,  the  motive  at  bottom  often  is  to  please  one's  friends,  neigh 
borhood  and  Social  Circle. 

Again,  we  find  that  the  riotous  and  disorderly,  do  in  fact  and 
naturally  congregate  and  reside  together  in  small  localities,  in 
which  they  would  not  allow  orderly  citizens  to  reside  in  peace ; 
we  find  also  that  the  outcasts  and  criminals  have  their  localities, 
through  which  it  is  not  only  repulsive  but  dangerous  for  respect 
able,  or  even  respectably  dressed  persons  to  pass  alone.  Why, 
then,  should  not  quiet  and  orderly  citizens  be  encouraged  or 
allowed  to  form  into  localities  of  their  own,  and  to  exclude 
others  from  settlement  there,  and  from  all  unnecessary  in 
trusion?  or  are  vice  and  disorder  to  be  allowed  always  and 
everywhere,  systematically  to  enjoy  privileges  ever  denied  to  the 
virtuous  and  orderly  ? 

It  is  a  general  doctrine  of  Swedenborg,  a  philosopher  of  rare 
insight,  that  it  is  the  universal  Law  of  Heaven  and  Hell  and 
Eternity,  that  men  should  continually  be  striving  to  find  their 
exact  sympathizers,  and  will  ultimately  arrange  themselves  in 
groups  and  societies,  exactly  according  to  the  genera  and  species 
of  their  moral  and  intellectual  characters.  And  the  idea  seems 
both  natural  and  philosophical.  From  which  it  would  seem  a 
proper  inference,  that  the  same  tendency  is  justifiable  in,  and 
should  be  amply  provided  for,  by  the  laws  and  arrangements  of 
earthly  society.  And  this  exactly  confirms  our  Precinct-theory. 

CHAP.  VIII.    MORALITY  AND   RELIGION. 

§  1.  In  General. 

The  Precinct-principle  is  further  proved,  by  its  consistency 
with  the  Saviour's  maxim  to  "  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 
The  interpretation  which  some  put  on  the  word  neighbor,  mak 
ing  it  mean  all  Mankind,  is  mere  jugglery ;  for  it  takes  away  all 
the  meaning  of  the  word  "  neighbor",  and  therefore  takes  away 
the  "  point"  of  the  passage.  No  doubt  the  ultimate  object  of 
Christianity  is,  and  the  result  will  in  a  perfect  state  be,  to  make 
all  Mankind  love  each  other  as  themselves ;  but  it  is  hardly  fair 
to  force  that  interpretation  on  to  every  passage  in  the  Bible,  nor 


MORALITY  AND    RELIGION. 

even  upon  every  passage  which  says  love.  The  truth  of  the  pas 
sage  is  this,  namely,  that  loving  the  neighbor  as  one's  self  is  the 
place  where  this  universal  love  begins,  so  that  if  perfect  there,  it 
will  gradually  work  outward  through  circle  after  circle,  unto  all 
Mankind.  The  fact  is  that  this  passage  is  very  sociological,  for, 
being  requested  to  explain  it,  the  Saviour  gave  the  parable  of 
the  good  Samaritan,  tjie  exact  point  of  which  is,  that  persons 
living  in  one  Precinct,  when  traveling  in  the  adjoining  one,  are 
bound  to  fulfill  the  duties  of  charity  in  distress,  even  although 
the  adjoining  Precincts  be  religious  enemies  to  each  other.  It 
seems  to  be  diametrically  opposed  to  burning  heretics,  at  least 
when  they  live  in  the  next  Precinct.  If  you  may  perhaps  burn 
them  out,  you  must  not  go  out  to  burn  them. 

Another  very  proper  interpretation  of  our  Saviour's  maxim 
of  loving  the  neighbor,  is,  that  duties  are  to  be  performed  to  the 
persons  whom  we  actually  meet,  and  especially  whom  circum 
stances  make  needy,  rather  than  that  we  should  be  filled  with 
sentimentality,  and  go  hunting  over  all  creation  for  opportuni 
ties  to  do  good.  Now,  this  inward  doctrine,  when  it  takes  an 
outward  form,  seeks  to  take  some  form  of  the  social  structure, 
and  that  form  is  emphatically  the  Precinct.  It  would  be  almost 
impossible,  otherwise,  for  men  generally  to  know  what  to  do,  or 
where  to  do  it. 

It  is  rather  a  happy  accident,  if  accident  it  be,  that  our  "  con 
stitutional"  word  designating  Precinct,  namely,  the  word  com- 
mon-wealth,  should  be  so  very  expressive  of  communism.  One 
cannot  escape  the  feeling  that  this  is  a  prophetical  anticipation 
in  language,  that  the  Precinct  is  the  especial  container  and  polit 
ical  form  of  communism.  The  old  Roman  word  republic  meant 
public  affairs,  not  common-wealth. 

§  2.    Unity  of  Local  Enterprises. 

The  system  of  small  Precincts  affords  opportunity  for  re 
ligious  unity,  and  success  in  benevolent  enterprises ;  and  thereby 
can  be  realized  the  great  and  truly  Christian  idea,  that  all  the 
Christians  of  a  place  are  the  church  of  that  place.  And  so  long 
as  men  differ  widely  on  doctrines,  and  on  the  degrees  of  their 
importance,  this  desirable  result  cannot  be  realized  to  any  con 
siderable  extent  in  any  other  way. 

The  plan  of  having  all  the  Christians  of  a  place  organized  as 


184  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  VIII. 

the  church  of  that  place,  gives  rise  to  the  practicability  of  placing 
all  the  benevolent  operations  in  one  Precinct,  under  one  arrange 
ment  of  visitations  and  management ;  the  advantage  of  which  is 
well  known  to  all  engaged  in  benevolent  enterprises,  both  in  pre 
venting  deception,  and  in  promoting  virtue,  and  counteracting 
vice  and  crime. 

Perhaps  it  may  not  be  desirable  that  each  Precinct  should  be 
made  up  entirely  of  one  religious  persuasion  at  present,  nor  until 
the  coming  times  when  Mankind  have  become  so  fit,  and  intel 
ligence  been  so  disseminated,  as  to  prevent  the  dangers.  Yet 
even  now  we  find  that  many  do  get  into  Precincts  consisting 
almost  exclusively  of  their  own  religion  or  class.  As  the  Cath 
olics  settle  among  their  churches,  also  the  Quakers,  the  Chinese 
and  the  colored  persons;  whilst  the  aristocracies  also  get  by 
themselves  in  their  own  neighborhoods,  to  a  considerable  extent. 

Mr.  Ruskin  has  drawn  a  beautiful  picture  of  the  duties  of  a 
state,  and  especially  of  its  "  moral  overseers."  But  it  is  evi 
dently  a  picture  that  is  only  practicable  as  yet,  by  and  in  such 
Precincts  as  would  adopt  it, — such  Precincts  being  so  small  that 
all  persons  who  "  loved  darkness  rather  than  light"  could  readily 
move  to  the  places  of  their  choice;  or  possibly  it  might  be 
adopted  by  general  corporations  like  any  of  the  various  Associa 
tions.  In  "Time  and  Tide,"  p.  80,  he  says:  "Putting  how 
ever,  all  questions  of  forms  and  names  aside,  the  thing  actually 
needing  to  be  done  is  this, — that  over  every  hundred  (or  some 
not  much  greater  number)  of  the  Families  composing  a  Christian 
State,  there  should  be  appointed  an  overseer  or  bishop,  to  render 
account  to  the  State,  of  the  life  of  every  Individual  in  those 
Families,  and  to  have  care  both  of  their  interest  and  conduct,  to 
such  an  extent  as  they  may  be  willing  to  admit,  or  as  their 
faults  may  justify,  so  that  it  may  be  impossible  for  any  pers  n, 
however  humble,  to  suffer  from  unknown  want,  or  live  in  i  n- 
recognized  crime, — such  help  and  observance  being  rendered 
without  officiousness,  either  of  interference  or  inquisition  (the 
limits  of  both  being  determined  by  law)  but  with  the  patient 
and  gentle  watchfulness  which  true  Christian  pastors  now  exer 
cise  over  their  flocks." 

As  a  remedy  for  and  a  prevention  of  the  vice  and  degrada 
tion  of  cities,  some  regular  plan  of  visitation  might  be  very  efii- 


MORALITY   AND   RELIGION.  135 

cient.  The  great  difficulty  to  be  overcome,  is  the  difficulty  of 
getting  the  voluntary  moral  and  religious  forces  of  society  to 
combine,  for  such  a  purpose,  into  one  harmonious  organization. 
But  the  good  of  these  plans  can  never  be  obtained  permanently, 
only  when  there  is  but  one  religious  and  benevolent  organiza 
tion  for  the  same  objects  in  one  given  locality,  which  in  fact  is 
the  beginning  of  either  our  Precinct  or  our  Corporation  system. 

One  of  the  arguments  for  our  theory  is  to  be  found  in  the 
difficulties  attending  the  matter  of  the  Bible  and  religion  in  the 
public  schools,  or  indeed  in  schools  at  all,  whether  public  or  pri 
vate.  This  whole  question  we  will  endeavor  to  examine  when 
we  come  to  Education  and  Public  Schools,  under  the  head  of 
the  Intellectual  element  of  Social  Science,  only  remarking  now, 
that  any  religion  or  non-religion  whether  Chinese  or  whatever, 
which  asks  for  its  own  schools  or  school-fund,  in  countries  where 
it  has  not  the  rule,  ought  to  be  able  to  show  that  it  grants  sepa 
rate  public  schools  or  school-funds  in  countries  where  it  has  the 
rule.  But  if  they  cannot  do  that,  why  still  let  us  give  them 
their  rights  here,  and  trust  to  the  good  effects  of  justice  and  to 
other  means,  to  correct  what  seem  to  us  their  errors.  Provided 
however,  that  no  denomination  should  receive  as  its  share,  more 
than  it  contributes  to  the  general  fund  for  the  same  purpose. 
§  3.  Persecution. 

The  Precinct  principle  explains  the  political  rights  of  small 
minorities,  for  instance — the  Mormons ;  and  so  long  as  social 
distinctions  press  hard  upon  women  as  a  sex,  so  long  will  any 
tribe  be  politically  justifiable  which  will  improve  the  condition 
of  woman.  And  this  explains  the  moral  but  temporary  justifica 
tion  of  "  Mormondom."  Their  political  success  is  explained  by 
the  inalienable  right  and  indestructible  power  of  the  Units,  and 
in  particular  of  the  Precinct-unit.  As  Dixon  says,  we  with 
our  tremendous  majority  and  ample  appliances,  revenues,  preach 
ers  and  so  on,  ought  to  be  willing  to  use  and  to  rely  upon  moral 
and  religious  influence  alone,  to  convert  or  reform  the  Mor 
mons;  only  demanding  freedom  for  our  moral  influences  to 
operate  there,  and  for  their  people  to  admit  those  influences.  But 
more  probably,  we  ought  not  to  demand  anything  more,  than  free 
dom  for  all  Mormons  who  desired  to,  to  return  to  the  other  parts 
of  the  United  States,  at  the  expense  of  the  Mormon  Precinct. 


18G  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  VIII. 

Calvin  burning  Servetus  in  the  little  Precinct  of  Geneva,  or 
the  New  England  Puritans  hanging  Quakers  in  the  little  colony 
of  Boston,  are  very  different  things,  from  the  king  the  emperor 
or  the  republic,  trying  to  extirpate  heresy  throughout  all  their 
dominions.  The  spirit  in  the  heart  of  the  rulers  may  be  the 
same,  but  the  spirit  of  the  people  that  upholds  it  is  very  dif 
ferent  ;  and  so  .  also  are  the  sociological  principles  involved. 
And  what,  during  the  Reformation,  saved  Germany  and  Swit 
zerland  so  quickly,  from  long  dissensions  such  as  disturbed 
France  and  the  British  Isles,  were  their  independent  Precinct 
systems. 

Here  we  must  offer  an  argument  which  may  perhaps  not  be 
popular,  but  its  weight  of  importance  presses  it  on  us.  It  has 
always  appeared  to  the  writer,  that  the  old  Catholic  argument 
for  persecution  of  dissenters,  has  never  been  fairly  answered. 
The  same  argument  is  used  by  Mahometans,  and  even  by  some 
evangelical  Protestants.  They  argue  thus, — the  salvation  of  the 
soul  is  more  important  than  that  of  the  body,  yet  nearly  all  ad 
mit,  it  is  justifiable  to  defend  our  bodies  with  mortal  weapons, 
and  to  put  murderers  to  death, — much  more  therefore  would  it 
be  justifiable  to  put  heretics  and  infidels  to  death,  whose  doc 
trines  are  supposed  to  kill,  not  the  body  only,  but  the  immortal 
soul.  To  this  argument,  it  is  no  answer  to  affirm  dogmatically 
that  religion  is  a  province  beyond  the  control  of  human  law,  for 
that  is  the  very  point  in  question.  Nor  is  that  argument  ever 
practically  regarded,  when  any  one  religion  becomes  tremen 
dously  in  excess  of  all  opposing  ones,  for  instance,  in  the  case  of 
the  United  States  against  the  Mormons. 

But  there  is  a  ground  upon  which  this  argument  for  persecu 
tion  may  be  thoroughly  avoided,  namely,  by  the  rights  of  the 
Precinct.  Let  all  who  work  in  religion  or  morality,  to  cultivate 
practices  utterly  at  variance  with  the  fundamental  determination 
of  their  neighbors,  remove  to  localities  by  themselves,  where  the 
other  citizens  may  feel  that  their  children  and  Families  are  safe 
from  the  contaminations  of  what  they  conceive  to  be  soul-damn 
ing  doctrines.  This  doctrine  of  Precincts  would  have  saved  the 
early  Christians  from  persecution  by  the  Jews.  Our  Saviour 
commanded  his  disciples,  saying,  "  When  they  persecute  you  in 
one  city  flee  ye  to  another/7  This  principle  carried  out  would 


TRIBE-RELATIONS.  187 

have  ultimately  driven  those  Christians  into  localities  by  them 
selves,  where,  by  their  works  they  could  have  proven  to  the 
civil  governments,  that  they  were  not  evil-doers ;  and,  what  is 
more  to  the  argument,  where  Rome  would  have  allowed  them 
their  own  "cultus,"  according  to  her  established  rules;  and  when 
once  the  recognition  of  such  a  "  cultus  "  had  been  made  by  law, 
the  time  would  have  soon  arrived  when  the  Christians  would 
have  been  allowed  to  found  their  own  local  Corporations  any 
where  throughout  the  Roman  Empire,  mingling  with  the  com 
mon  citizens  in  the  day,  and  retiring  to  their  own  localities  at 
night,  according  to  the  Roman  laws,  but  all  the  while  deciding 
disputes  between  themselves  by  their  own  rules.  , 

We  have  seen  something  like  this,  when  the  persecuted  Mora 
vian  puritans  fled  to  the  estates  of  Zinzendorf  and  were  there 
tolerated. 

§  4.  Scripture- Type,  in  the  Hebrew  Nation. 

Here  may  be  placed  an  argument  from  the  Scriptures, — the 
divinely  authorized  example  of  the  Hebrew  Nation  instituted 
by  the  special  authority  and  care  of  God.  The  Hebrew  Nation 
was  divided  into  tribes,  and  great  care  was  commanded  to  be 
taken  to  preserve  their  distinctness.  This  authorized  example 
combines  with  the  type-theory,  as  elaborated  in  the  Summary 
Introduction  and  other  parts  of  the  work,  and  should  (it  seems) 
be  admitted  as  a  precedent.  Mulford  very  properly  claims  the 
authority  of  the  Hebrew  precedent  for  the  divine  authority  of 
the  Nation,  but  it  is  equally  as  quotable  for  the  divine  authority 
of  the  Precinct.  Some  objections  that  might  seem  valid  against 
this  argument  will  be  treated  of  under  the  head  of  "  Special 
Objections  Answered/'  at  the  conclusion  of  this  the  second  PART 
of  Precinct.  (See  Chap.  X.) 

CHAP.  IX.    TKIBE-RELATIONS. 

§  1.  In  General. 

Resemblance  and  sympathy  form  the  chief  elements  of  the 
Family  circle.  And  in  primitive  states  of  society,  the  same 
similarity  of  views  feelings  and  interests,  in  a  degree  also,  takes 
place  in  a  whole  tribe. 

But  when  we  come  to  a  mixed  people,  one  mixed  with  immi 
grants  from  various  countries,  of  persons  of  various  races  and 


188  BK-  n.    PRECINCT,    ii.  ix. 

of  the  most  opposite  views  of  religion  and  morals,  there  remains 
but  one  possible  method  of  completely  applying  the  tribe-prin 
ciple  to  the  case.  And  be  it  remembered,  the  tribe  is  a  natural 
unit  of  society ;  the  principle  therefore  upon  which  it  is  founded, 
must  always  exist,  and  be  made  fundamental  in  the  constitutions 
of  government.  The  only  way  then,  of  applying  the  tribe- 
principle,  is,  by  allowing  each  Individual  to  select  his  own  tribe; 
and  each  tribe  to  fix  its  rules,  and  to  say  whom  it  will  receive 
and  whom  not.  There  must  be  a  plain  agreement,  either  ex 
pressed  or  implied,  between  Individuals  and  Precincts,  that  both 
parties  are  in  the  main  satisfied  with  each  other. 

In  modern  times,  the  fundamental  unit  of  the  tribe-principle, 
finds  its  own  first  development  in  material  things.  We  find 
men,  in  all  the  various  classes  01*  society,  subdividing  them 
selves  spontaneously  into  social  and  political  and  business  cir 
cles.  But  until  government  can  understand  and  embrace  this 
principle,  and  legally  recognize  the  tribe-element,  it  must  neces 
sarily  be  a  failure,  for  it  ignores  one  of  the  essential  elements 
and  one  of  the  essential  conditions,  of  the  organization  of  so 
ciety.  Here  then,  two  alternatives  present  themselves.  First, 
an  effort  to  organize  the  religious,  moral,  social  and  political 
circles,  into  the  tribe-unit  or  tribe-element,  by  constituting  them 
with  the  general  powers  of  government.  That  this  is  positively 
practicable,  and  so  far  desirable  as  a  subsidiary  aid,  may  perhaps 
be  shown  under  the  head  of  Corporation.  But  the  main  alter 
native  evidently  is  the  second  one,  namely,  regarding  the  Pre 
cinct-division  as  the  unit  or  holder  of  the  common  government- 
powers.  For  no  voluntary  circle,  unless  it  occupies  its  own 
territory  for  itself,  can  completely  answer  to  the  idea  of  a  tribe. 
The  aim  of  government,  here,  is  to  make  both  principles  unite 
into  one,  to  make  each  Precinct  become  the  voluntary  union  of 
the  same  circle,  or  of  twTo  or  more  harmonious  circles. 
§  2.  Relations  to  Social  Circle. 

Laws  are  necessarily  unjust  which  do  not  acknowledge  and  pro 
vide  for  existing  facts,  and  existing  grades  in  society,  which  are 
as  distinct  as  different  religions,  or  different  Nations.  And  among 
the  facts  thus  necessary  to  meet  and  provide  for,  one  is  the  Social 
Circle.  So  great  is  its  importance  that  we  have  classified  it  as  one 
of  the  Units  or  fundamental  analytical  elements  of  human  society. 


TRIBE-RELATIONS.  189 

The  very  origin  of  Tribe  was  historically  a  Social  Circle, — 
some  particular  set  of  friends  voluntarily  associating  with  each 
other  in  preference  to  others.  And  as  our  theory  takes  the  tribe 
to  be  the  origin  of  the  Precinct,  it  follows  from  the  theory,  that 
the  idea  of  Social  Circle  is  inherent  in  that  of  tribe.  And  when 
tribe  becomes  Precinct,  it  equally  follows  from  our  theory,  that 
the  idea  of  sociability  and  Social  Circle,  must  be  an  eternally 
essential  idea  of  the  Precinct,  not  necessarily  of  every  Precinct 
in  particular,  but  of  the  idea  in  general,  and  of  some  in  par 
ticular. 

Reverting  again  to  historical  origins,  the  tribe  would  not 
continue  always  to  be  of  one  Social  Circle  only.  Differences 
would  arise  gradually  within  the  Precinct  itself,  from  various 
causes;  and  then  occasionally  other  persons  would  join  with  it 
from  other  Precincts,  whose  occupation  made  it  mutually  agree 
able  or  mutually  advantageous  to  do  so.  The  instincts  of  Man 
kind  often  produce  the  co-existence  and  very  near  residence  in 
the  same  Precinct,  of  the  very  richest  and  the  very  poorest, 
because  such  are  essential  to  each  other  constantly.  Whilst  the 
middle  classes  seek  neighborhoods  by  themselves,  despising  those 
who  are  below  them  in  the  Social  Circle,  as  much  as  they  envy 
those  who  are  above  them  in  the  same  artificial  distinctions. 

Hence  it  is  possible  for  more  than  one  Social  Circle  to  exist  in 
one  Precinct ;  but  not  for  more  than  one  social  set  to  have  the 
government  thereof:  nevertheless  an  equal  arbitration  between 
all,  is  possible.  But  in  the  matter  of  the  rule  of  a  Precinct, 
nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  rule  generally  falls  to  the 
control  of  one  Social  Circle ;  and  not  only  so,  but  also  into  the 
control' of  some  one  set  or  clique  of  that  Social  Circle.  The 
instincts  of  men  are  constantly  exhibiting  this  tendency.  The 
aristocracy  will  seek  one  neighborhood;  the  respectable  orderly 
working  people,  another ;  the  rowdies,  another.  Let  the  fighters 
get  together  and  fight  one  another;  this  is  the  providential 
arrangement  for  the  self-cure  of  these  evils.  But  let  good  and 
orderly  citizens,  have  the  control  in  their  own  localities. 

Tt  is  not  for  a  moment  supposed  that  Precincts  are  to  consist 
of  persons  necessarily  all  in  the  same  social  equality,  but  only, 
that  they  should  be  in  a  state  of  mind  whereby  they  would  have 
the  same  views  of  the  rights  and  duties  flowing  from  social  dis- 


190  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  IX. 

tinctions,  if  any.  Neither,  that  they  should  all  be  employees  or 
all  employers;  but  only  that  their  ideas  should  be  in  harmony  as 
to  the  mutual  rights  and  duties  of  employees, — no  more  than  that 
they  should  all  be  either  males  or  females,  but  that  they  should 
have  the  same  opinions  and  feelings  and  habits,  as  to  the  relative 
duties  of  Family-life.  Thus  it  is  that  the  question  of  equal  free 
dom  without  disturbing  the  rights  of  others,  becomes  practically, 
the  equal  freedom  without  disturbing  what  others  have  learned 
to  be  their  rights,  or  what  they  have  become  fitted  to  enjoy,  up  to 
that  time.  Hence,  perfect  freedom  for  the  Individual,  in  society,  in 
practice  really  means  a  perfect  or  indefinite  variety  of  small  and 
near  Precincts, — each  Precinct  in  itself  as  far  independent,  as  is 
consistent  with  the  important  utilities  and  rights  of  the  others. 
§  3.  Relations  to  Races,  Species,  and  Breeds. 

By  our  Precinct  principle,  it  becomes  possible  for  different 
races  to  be  in  separate  Precincts,  as  indeed  they  are  in  duty 
bound  to  continue,  unless  they  can  live  amicably  and  usefully 
together.  And  where  they  can  thus  live  amicably,  they  also 
can  form  Precincts  of  mutual  service,  and  thus  exhibit  one  of 
the  Creator's  designs  in  ordaining  different  races  of  men,  as  well 
as  different  races  of  animals  or  vegetables.  It  would  of  course 
be  found,  that  the  higher  the  development  of  reason  in  the 
superior  race,  and  also  the  better  and  higher  the  moral  develop 
ments  in  both  races,  the  more  amicably  and  easily  they  could 
live  together,  and  the  more  they  would  voluntarily  organize 
together.  Whereas,  the  lovers  of  fine  arts  and  amusements,  of 
war,  and  of  ignorance,  would  naturally  be  found  repelling  each 
other,  and  forming  Precincts  each  of  their  own  kind.  Thus  the 
great  problem  of  different  races  co-existing  in  one  Nation,  which 
is  looming  up  with  very  unsatisfactory  proportions  in  the  United 
States,  might  be  easily  settled.  Europeans,  Catholics,  Protest 
ants,  African  descendants,  Chinese,  and  Indians,  need  give  no 
further  theoretical  or  scientific  uneasiness. 

The  principle  is,  that  these  opposites  will  voluntarily  seek  each 
other  for  mutual  good,  as  soon  as  they  are  fit  to  live  together  in 
peace  and  charity ;  and  will  consent  to  arrange  themselves  so  that 
neither  can  domineer  over  the  other.  But  until  that  time  comes, 
they  may  either,  one  be  in  submission  to  the  other,  or  else  each 
seek  its  own  separate  neighborly  locality  voluntarily. 


TRIBE-RELATIONS.  191 

Small  Precincts  are  required  by  the  Moral  and  Physical  Ad 
vantages,  of  marriages  between  persons  of  blood  and  race  not 
far  distant.  Modern  researches  tend  to  prove  that  bodily  health 
also,  is  best  promoted  by  inter-marriages  of  persons  not  much 
further  removed  from  each  other,  than  sufficient  to  keep  clear 
from  the  dangers  of  marriage  within  close  or  traceable  degrees 
of  kindred.  Amalgamations  between  races  very  different,  as 
between  the  whites  and  blacks  in  this  country,  and  as  between 
the  English  and  the  Hindoos  in  India,  are  said  by  the  Physiolo 
gists,  almost  always  to  become  barren  in  the  third  or  fourth  >"' 
generation,  and  to  end  the  race. 

Mankind,  when  removed  to  climates  very  different  from  their 
natural  ones,  become  enfeebled  in  health,  and  decrease  in  fruitful- 
ness.  But  Jews,  Gipsies  and  some  others,  seem  to  be  less  subject 
to  these  influences,  apparently  because  of  possessing  better  consti 
tutions  ;  and  this  superiority  may  be  owing  to  their  being  close 
tribes,  and  answering  our  theory  here  in  regard  to  neighborly 
marriages.  It  is  admitted  that  marriages  between  races  of  close 
resemblance,  have  been  {Productive  of  some  benefits. 

The  superiority  of  the  English  in  many  respects,  is  attributed 
to  the  fact  of  that  Nation  being  a  compound  of  the  blood  of  A 
several  Nations  who  in  ancient  times  occupied  the  Island,  and 
who  yet  contribute  some  of  their  still  separated  elements  from 
Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  and  from  the  isolated  retired  ham 
lets  of  England  itself.  And  the  rapid  progress  of  our  country 
in  so  many  respects,  is  attributed  by  many,  to  similar  causes, — 
namely,  our  great  intermingling  of  the  blood,  not  only  of  the 
original  British  tribes,  but  also  of  the  various  German  tribes, 
with  a  little  tincture  from  almost  every  Nation  in  Europe.  Yet 
neither  the  mingled  English  nor  the  Americans  are  so  healthy 
as  the  separate  tribes,  either  morally  or  physically. 

These  facts  would  tend  to  show,  that  whilst  the  intellectual 
and  material  progress  may  be  the  results  of  unions  of  varieties 
that  far  distinct ;  yet  that  moral  progress,  and  especially  phys 
ical  health,  are  deteriorated  thereby.  And  this  deterioration  of 
health  has  become  such  an  alarming  phenomenon  in  this  coun 
try,  that  any  general  principle  for  its  improvement  should  receive 
every  possible  encouragement. 

Among  Mankind,  as  among  "  other  animals,"  it  is  necessary 


192  BK.  II.      PRECINCT.      II.  X. 

from  time  to  time  to  raise  new  and  improved  breeds.  And  dis 
tinction  and  separate  development  of  Precincts,  is  one  method, 
and  the  very  best  one,  to  accomplish  this  end.  In  improving 
the  blood  of  human  beings,  we  cannot  of  course  expect  to  pro 
ceed  as  with  animals,  in  disregard  of  the  moral  conditions  and 
moral  feelings;  because  these  are  the  most  important  parts  of 
human  nature.  And  it  is  in  order  to  improve  these,  quite  as 
much  as  or  more  than,  to  improve  any  intellectual  or  physical 
characteristics,  that  it  is  desirable  to  produce  improved  stocks  of 
human  beings  at  all.  And  of  course,  the  idea  of  attempting  to 
produce  this  kind  of  improvement,  in  a  formal,  outward  or  pre 
scribed  way,  is  inhuman.  But  the  natural  and  instinctive  oper 
ations  of  our  Precinct  system,  would  spontaneously  produce  some 
of  the  most  radical  improvements  of  this  kind,  that  could  bo 
desired;  and  that  too,  by  the  marriages  of  persons  sufficiently 
near  alike,  who  being  located  near  together  would  spontaneously 
and  instinctively  select  each  other,  better  usually  than  formal 
science  could  advise. 

CHAP.  X.    SPECIAL,   OBJECTIONS   ANSWERED. 

§  1.  Intermingling ,  Useful  in  the  Past. 

It  may  be  objected  to  our  theory  of  Precincts,  that  great  ad 
vantages  have  followed  the  past  policy  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  intermingling  of  all  classes.  We  answer,  that  in  arguing  for 
the  future,  for  persons  of  different  religions  politics  and  classes, 
to  form  Precincts  by  themselves,  we  must  admit  that  great  ad 
vantages  have  accrued  in  the  past,  from  arranging  so  that  all 
intermingled  freely,  thereby  breaking  down  "  caste."  We  may 
even  admit  that  if  the  balance  of  advantage  is  yet  in  favor  of 
the  present  plan,  nevertheless  we  may  see,  that  in  many  places 
we  are  approaching  a  class  of  evils  of  an  opposite  kind ;  that, 
anarchy  and  irreligion  are  being  established,  and  parental  rights 
swept  away  by  the  extreme  of  the  intermingling  which  we  in 
the  United  States  are  accomplishing ;  and  that  we  are  now  just 
about  the  turning  point,  when,  though  the  intermingling  policy 
of  past  years,  still  may  have  the  benefit  of  the  argument  in 
thinly  settled  country  places,  yet  in  cities,  towns,  and  even  in 
thickly  settled  agricultural  and  mining  regions,  the  old  method 
has  evidently  passed  its  greatest  point  of  usefulness,  and  the  new 


SPECIAL   OBJECTIONS   ANSWERED.  193 

order  is  absolutely  demanded  by  the  balance  of  influences.  In 
general  therefore  we  may  infer,  that  the  intermingling  era  is 
passing  away  by  tacit  but  common  consent;  and  that  the  time 
is  coming  for  re-organization. 

What  is  now  far  more  to  be  guarded  against,  is  the  friction  of 
the  different  classes  or  colors,  in  the  same  localities.  For,  the 
nearer  people  are  together,  the  more  they  hate  each  other  for  the 
small  differences  of  daily  life,  as  those  small  differences  bring 
them  into  more  and  more  disputation  and  variance;  and  conse 
quently  they  are  more  and  more  stimulated  to  and  upheld  in 
those  oppositions,  by  those  of  the  same  class  or  color,  than  when 
apart  from  the  others  at  their  homes  or  recreations.  The  case 
is  the  same  as  with  the  progress  in  machinery.  At  first,  fric 
tion  is  not  thought  of  at  all ;  but  in  the  later  and  higher  devel 
opments,  the  study  how  to  lessen  friction,  becomes  one  of  the 
most  important  of  all,  both  to  the  mechanic  and  to  the  inventor. 

The  intermingled  modes  of  life,  in  mixed  Precincts  as  now 
most  commonly  found,  are  doubtless  unobjectionable,  so  long  as 
the  friction  is  but  small,  and  as  their  citizens  can  live  harmoni 
ously  together,  and  retain  a  good  degree  of  mutual  sympathy  and 
mutual  regard  for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  their  neighbors. 
But  unfortunately,  this  is  becoming  a  less  and  less  frequent  case. 
Pride  and  tyranny  on  the  one  side,  and  pride  and  envy  on  the 
other,  are  stimulating  men  everywhere  into  antithetic  positions. 
Everybody  wants  to  be  despotic  to  his  inferiors,  "  superior  to  his 
equals,  and  equal  to  his  superiors."  Hence  a  universal  deep 
undercurrent  of  discontent.  And  this  gives  rise  to  the  neces 
sity  of  allowing  persons  who  are  unhappy  under  their  present 
conditions,'  to  form  new  relations  and  new  residences,  upon 
principles  which  seem  promising  of  contentment  and  peace. 

It  might  be  apprehended  that  the  collection  in  the  same  locali 
ties,  of  persons  of  the  same  character,  would  produce  narrow- 
mindedness,  and  prevent  general  improvement,  as  it  formerly 
has  done.  But  times  have  much  altered.  Now  the  art  of 
printing,  the  diffusion  of  education,  the  dissemination  of  public 
presses,  and  the  addition  of  the  telegraph,  are  bringing  all  parts 
of  the  world  into  such  close  acquaintance  with  each  other,  that 
the  old  dangers  of  localization  are  not  to  be  feared.  The  union 
bet\veen  characteristics  and  ideas  of  whole  peoples,  which  for- 

13 


194  BK-  II.      PRECINCT.      II.  X. 

merly  could  only  be  accomplished  by  union  of  blood,  and  mix 
ture  of  tribes,  can  now  be  largely  fulfilled  by  the  transmission 
of  ideas,  and  the  spread  of  cosmopolite  sympathies. 

Such  is  the  intimacy  of  distant  localities,  that  merely  geo 
graphical  distinctions  alone,  in  a  nation,  especially  in  ours,  are 
ceasing  to  be  real  checks  or  balances  in  the  working  of  govern 
ment.  And  since  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  old  geographical 
checks  are  passing  away  insensibly,  leaving  no  balances  in  our 
government  at  all,  of  any  value  for  good ;  but  rather  oppositions 
and  old  enmities,  without  sufficient  moral  powers  to  balance 
them. 

If  however,  the  time  is  not  yet  near  for  a  change  of  policy 
in  these  respects,  or  even  if  our  argument  against  intermingling 
be  deemed  entirely  and  eternally  erroneous,  then  let  it  be  remem 
bered  that  our  proposed  Corporation-system,  would  not  interfere 
with  the  usual  intermingling,  but  still  would  furnish  most  of  the 
political  advantages  of  the  Precinct-system.  See  Corporation. 
§  2.  Danger  of  Secession. 

If  the  objection  were  raised,  that  the  dividing  up  of  a  Nation 
into  Precincts  would  make  the  chances  of  secession  easier,  we 
would  reply,  that  it  would  have  just  the  opposite  effect;  and  this 
would  be  the  case  in  two  entirely  different  ways.  (1)  For,  the 
larger  the  number  of  Precincts  the  Nation  was  divided  into,  the 
less  would  be  the  chances  of  corrupting  Individuals,  and  obtain 
ing  their  votes  by  cheating ;  for  it  could  not  possibly  be  known 
beforehand,  which  way  each  Precinct  would  vote,  when  there 
was  such  a  large  number  of  them ;  and  therefore  it  could  not 
be  known  which  ones  to  cheat  in,  or  how  many.  In  the  late 
war,  this  corrupting  and  cheating  were  actually  done  in  several 
instances;  and  states  were  said  to  have  given  majorities  for 
secession,  which  had  not  done  so  at  all,  but  the  true  votes  had 
been  concealed  and  false  returns  made.  It  will  be  seen  at  once, 
that  where  there  is  such  a  large  number  of  Precincts  as  we  pro 
pose,  the  number  of  Individuals  required  to  give  false  returns 
will  be  largely  increased. 

(2)  And  besides  this  there  is  another  reason :  the  more  Pre 
cincts  a  Nation  is  composed  of,  the  less  the  population  of  each 
will  be,  and  the  less  the  number  of  voters ;  and  therefore  false 
returns  would  surely  be  detected,  and  that  being  foreknown,  they 


SPECIAL    OBJECTIONS   ANSWERED. 

would  be  prevented.  For  where  there  is  any  doubt,  the  returns 
can  at  once  be  examined,  and  every  real  and  authorized  voter 
can  be  reached  and  examined. 

The  true  doctrine  of  our  "  American  "  states"  is,  that  they  are 
Corporations.  This  we  will  endeavor  to  show  under  Part  III., 
speaking  of  the  relations  of  Precincts,  Cities,  and  States,  to  Cor 
porations.  This  shows  at  once  the  absurdity  of  that  theory  of 
state  rights,  which,  involving  secession  with  it,  too,  viewed  those 
merely  chartered  organizations  called  states,  as  being  the  original 
sources  from  which  all  power  was  derived,  both  above  and  below 
them.  In  their  origin  too,  as  colonies,  most  of  them  were  actually 
chartered  organizations.  But  having  gradually  absorbed  from 
and  robbed,  the  Precincts,  of  their  natural  and  proper  rights,  and 
having  allowed  the  growth  of  the  body  to  dispel  the  soul  out  of 
one  social  unit,  they  aimed  next,  to  suck  the  soul  out  of  the 
other  junit,  that  is,  the  Nation.  The  pride  that  grew  up  out  of 
the  first  usurpations,  led  directly  to  the  ambition  that  aimed  at 
the  second. 

But  now  let  us  ask,  will  it  help  the  matter  any,  to  transfer 
that  usurped  power  from  state  to  Nation,  and  allow  one  natural, 
element  at  one  end  of  the  scale,  to  exercise  all  the  powers  belong 
ing  to  the  other  end  of  the  scale  ?  Whilst  the  states  were  lifting 
up  their  heads,  there  was  a  superior  power  over  them  which  they 
well  knew  and  feared.  But  if  that  superior  power  itself  assumes 
their  functions,  where  is  the  power  to  check  IT  ?  There  is  no 
human  power,  but  foreign. — Hence,  let  us  now  return  to  first 
and  sound  principles,  and  restore  power  to  Precincts. 

Another  argument  against  the  danger  of  secession,  is  found  in 
the  fact,  that  adjoining  localities  generally  form  spontaneous 
political  REACTIONS  to  each  other.  And  as  every  Precinct  is, 
by  our  theory,  balanced  by  its  Amalgam  with  the  sum  of  its 
adjoining  Precincts,  there  would  generally  exist  a  spontaneous 
balancing  power  to  the  extreme  tendencies  of  any  Precinct  in 
particular.  The  most  unlike  in  property,  would  often  go  to 
gether,— namely,  the  richest  and  the  poorest.  And  in  between 
pairs  of  such  Precincts,  would  generally  be  intermediate  ones  for 
mechanical  purposes,  stores,  &c.,  because  they  would  be  needed 
by  the  adjoining  Precincts.  All  the  Precincts  of  one  kind  would 
not  be  formed  in  contiguity,  partly  because  of  business  demands, 


196  BK-  n.    PRECINCT,    ii.  x. 

and  partly  because  of  the  expenses  of  removal  to  great  distances, 
and  partly  because  of  the  ties  of  relationship  refusing  to  be 
broken  by  very  great  distances.  No  such  great  diversity  of 
geographical  interests  or  feelings,  could  take  place,  as  now  exists 
between  East  and  West,  or  between  North  and  South. 

The  natural  tendency  of  localities  to  form  political  reactions 
with  adjoining  localities,  may  not  be  easily  explained,  but  is 
nevertheless  very  easily  proved  to  be  a  fact.  For  instance,  at 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Southern  rebellion,  the  rabid  pro-slavery 
Eastern  Virginia  was  surrounded  by  Maryland,  Delaware,  West 
ern  Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  The  rabid  pro-slavery  South 
Carolina  was  touched' by  the  staunch  old  Whig  states  of  North 
Carolina  and  Florida,  and  only  by  the  moderately  pro-slavery 
state  of  Georgia.  The  fire-eating  state  of  Mississippi  was  touched 
by  Whig  Louisiana  and  Tennessee,  and  by  the  moderately  pro- 
slavery  Alabama.  And  the  Fame  similar  general  law  is  found 
to  hold  in  the  case  of  the  old  Whig  states,  which  were  sur 
rounded  by  or  chiefly  touched  by  rabid  pro-slavery  sections ;  for 
instance,  South  Carolina  by  North  Carolina  and  Florida,  with 
moderate  Georgia, — Louisiana  touched  by  rabid  Mississippi  and 
Texas.  Sometimes,  however,  it  is  necessary  to  take  two  states 
or  parts  of  states  together,  as  one  locality,  to  show  the  effects  of 
the  principle  in  every  case.  But  enough  has  been  said  to  show 
the  principle.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  politics  of  the 
Southern  States  were  very  different  before  the  war,  from  what 
they  are  now :  the  metaphysical  reactions  being  from  pro-slavery 
to  freedom,  of  some,  and  from  old  union  to  everlasting  grum 
bling  of  the  others.  The  soldiers  in  rebellion  became  the  sol 
diers  in  submission. 

But  the  principle  is,  there  would  be  quite  as  much  danger  of 
civil  war  between  adjoining  Precincts,  in  their  reactions  against 
each  other,  as  there  would  be  of  the  secession  from  the  Nation, 
of  Precincts  in  combination.  But  now  what  shall  we  say : — 
that  our  proposed  system  is  liable  to  BOTH  these  objections, 
namely,  civil  war  between  Precincts  in  some  places?  and  seces 
sion  of  combined  Precincts  in  other  places? — Or  shall  we  not 
say,  that  both  these  anticipated  evils  only  COUNTERBALANCE 
each  other,  and  thus  nullify  each  other  ?  Besides,  we  have  the 
power  of  the  Amalgams,  which  would  be  quite  as  efficient  and 


SPECIAL   OBJECTIONS   ANSWERED.  197 

even  more  efficient,  to  check  riot  and  to  prevent  civil  war  be 
tween  the  Precincts  of  which  an  Amalgam  was  composed,  than 
they  would  be  in .  preventing  secession  from  the  Nation.  But 
now,  the  simple  truth  is,  that  in  any  case  of  disorder,  whether 
towards  secession  of,  or  towards  intestine  war  between,  Precincts, 
every  Precinct  and  every  Amalgam  of  Precincts,  would  have  the 
same  right  to  call  for  support  from  the  Nation,  as  any  state  now 
has,  or  as  any  county  now  has  to  call  upon  its  state  for  aid. 
Both  Precincts  and  Amalgams,  would  have  direct  recourse  to  the 
aid  of  the  national  government;  and  the  complex  relations  of 
the  subordinate  parts  of  the  Nation,  would  have  nothing  what 
ever  to  do  with  the  question,  in  case  of  any  kind  of  resort  to  arms. 

Another  safeguard  in  our  theory,  against  any  attempt  at 
secession,  is  the  doctrine  already  laid  down  under  our  general 
idea  of  the  Six  UNITS,  and  especially  under  the  head  of  "  Re 
bellion  of  Precincts/'  in  which  place  we  endeavor  to  show  that 
Precincts  have  no  rights  of  sovereignty,  and  no  other  right  of 
rebellion,  than  what  every  living  creature  has  when  sufficiently 
aggrieved.'  The  sovereignty  of  the  Precinct  is  no  part  of  a 
theory  of  six  units,  any  more  than  that  of  the  Individual,  or  of 
the  Family,  or  of  any  other  of  the  six. 

The  real  dangers  of  secession,  are  not  at  all  in  the  direction 
of  formal  local  subdivision,  but  in  the  direction  of  too  rapid  in 
crease  of  population, — that  is,  too  rapid  for  our  science  as  yet; 
and  in  too  great  a  diffusion  thereof;  and  in  rebellions  being  fos 
tered  by  foreign  Nations,  because  of  our  audacious  violations  of 
the  laws  of  Nations, — subjects  which  are  treated  under  the  head 
of  "  International  law"  and  in  other  appropriate  places. 
§  3.  Confederacy,  or  Nation  ? 

There  is  one  objection  that  may  possibly  be  offered,  which,  in 
its  assumptions  is  so  contrary  to  the  whole  theory,  as  scarcely  to 
deserve  mention,  and  yet  it  may  perhaps  be  better  to  anticipate 
it  directly.  The  assertion  may  be  made  that  our  theory  tends 
to  produce  a  confederacy  instead  of  a  Nation.  Now  the  answer 
to  this  is,  that  we  have  all  along  maintained,  that  a  part  of  the 
"State"  powers  must  be  assigned  to  the  Nation, — that  our 
theory  upon  the  whole,  does  not  increase  the  totality  of  the 
"  State"  powers,  but  only  re-arranges  them,  giving  more  power 
in  some  respects,  but  less,  in  other  respects.  And  as  to  the  mere 


198  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  X. 

difference  in  size  of  the  Precincts,  although  we  may  say,  that  as 
a  tendency  of  human  nature,  the  larger  the  size  and  therefore 
the  smaller  the  number,  of  states,  the  more  their  junction  has 
the  appearance  of  a  mere  confederacy,  and  vice-versa;  never 
theless,  size  of  subdivision's  does  not  affect  the  principle  at  all, 
and  need  not  be  discussed. 

§  4.   Objections  from  the  Scriptures. 

It  has  been  objected  to  our  theory,  by  some  who  attach  greater 
comparative  importance  to  Nation  than  to  state  or  Precinct,  that 
the  very  frequent  use  of  the  word  "  Nations"  in  the  Scriptures, 
in  reference  to  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  neighborhood  of 
Judea,  is  against  us.  But  "  Nations"  in  those  cases  only  mean 
what  they  do  when  applied  to  the  various  tribes  of  American 
Indians,^as  for  instance,  the  "  Six  Nations."  But  the  thing 
meant  by  Nation  in  these  cases,  evidently  comes  much  nearer  to 
our  idea  of  Precinct,  than  to  the  thing  now  meant  by  Nation  as 
that  word  is  now  understood.  And  the  same  is  also  the  case 
generally,  in  the  histories  of  primitive  times. 

Another  objection  from  the  Scriptures  might  be,  that  the  final 
secession  of  a  large  part  of  the  Jewish  Nation,  speaks  unfavor 
ably  for  the  permanency  of  tribal  Precincts.  But  this  secession 
is  another  argument  from  Scripture,  to  the  contrary.  The  He 
brew  Nation,  it  is  true,  was  divided  into  tribes,  and  great  care 
was  taken  to  maintain  the  distinctness  and  completeness  of  each 
one.  But  it  is  also  true,  that  in  the  course  of  time,  excessive 
power  became  vested  in  the  central  government,  namely,  the 
kings,  and  this  did  not  arise  from  its  nature  as  a  Nation,  but 
from  the  ancient  absolutism  of  Eastern  feelings  and  Eastern 
Monarchies.  But  in  the  original  structure  of  the  Hebrew  polity, 
and  after  its  war-polity  under  Moses  and  Joshua  ended,  the 
Nation  possessed  no  physical  power  or  physical  organ  expressing 
its  unity.  This  unity  depended  exclusively  on  the  moral  powers, 
especially  the  moral  Corporation  of  Levi,  and  the  moral  power 
of  the  prophets,  and  the  sense  of  nationality.  And  these  moral 
powers  had  been  more  efficient  in  preserving  the  union,  than  the 
despotic  power  of  the  kings  was  subsequently.  In  fact,  the  real 
cause  of  the  civil  Avar  that  finally  broke  up  the  Hebrew  Nation, 
was,  each  party  in  its  turn  endeavoring  to  control  the  centraliz 
ing  power,  and  thus  to  force  its  own  views  and  polity  upon  all 


MINING   DISTRICTS.  199 

the  Precincts ;  and  calling  in  foreign  aid  for  that  purpose.  And 
to  speak  more  generally,  the  falling  away  of  the  more  distant 
localities,  has  always  been  one  of  the  steps  in  the  decay  of  states, 
Nations,  confederacies,  and  empires. 

CHAPTER   XI.     MINING   DISTRICTS. 

The  general  principle  of  law  hitherto  has  been,  that  mines  of 
precious  metals  belong  to  the  Nation,  and  that  even  the  sale  and 
title  to  land  do  not  naturally  alienate  the  Nation's  right  to  pre 
cious  minerals.  And  we  know  now  that  all  minerals  are  pre 
cious.  The  principle  is  good ;  Justice  to  all,  as  also  the  historical 
troubles  in  many  mining  districts,  help  to  confirm  the  principle. 
Mines  therefore,  like  sea-coasts,  and  like  Large  Cities,  which  we 
shall  treat  of  in  the  next  chapter,  should  be  amenable  to  the 
Nation  directly.  Strictly  mining  districts,  if  thickly  populated, 
ought,  like  "  States"  and  Large  Cities,  to  be  considered  as  double 
Corporations,  having  one  of  their  charters  from  the  Nation  itself. 
But  if  thinly  populated,  they  ought  to  be  treated  like  "  territo 
ries"  not  yet  admitted  to  be  full  State-Precincts,  but  only  pre 
paring  so  to  be,  and  meanwhile  be  under  the  control  of  the 
Nation  alone. 


CITIES. 

§  1.  Federative  Corporations. 

(a)  Classifications.  When  we  'came  to  the  consideration  of 
large  cities,  those  which  according  to  our  limitations  of  popula 
tion  would  consist*  of  several  Precincts,  we  were  halted  for  a 
long  time,  unable  to  decide  where  to  place  them.  We  had  long 
decided  to  ignore  altogether,  what  are  commonly  in  America, 
called  "States," — thinking  that  all  their  functions  could  prop 
erly  be  analyzed  and  divided  off,  partly  to  Precinct  and  partly 
to  Nation.  But  the  consideration  of  large  cities  soon  re-opened 
the  question  about  ignoring  "  States,"  and  showed  plainly  that 
they  and  large  cities  both,  must  come  under  the  same  closely 
related  category;  the  only  difference  in  principle  being  the 
geographical  extent  of  the  states,  and  even  this  difference  being 
counteracted  in  many  cases,  by  the  much  greater  population  of 
the  cities.  It  was  furthermore  evident,  that  states  had  provi- 


200  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      II.  XII. 

dentially  served  to  counteract  the  cities  by  furnishing  a  sufficient 
country  population  for  that  purpose.  But  still,  the  doubt  was 
as  unsettled  as  ever,  where  to  classify  BOTH  of  them. 

It  was  evidently  possible  according  to  our  theory,  to  take 
two  entirely  different  views  of  states  and  large  cities.  On  the 
one  hand  it  was  possible  to  consider  them  as  a  sort  of  inter- 
preciuct-federations,  a  sort  of  inter-national-like  federations  be 
tween  Precincts :  and  on  the  other  hand  it  was  possible  to 
conceive  of  them  as  Corporations  chartered  by  the  Nation.  A 
prolonged  inability  to  decide  between  these  two  possibilities,  at 
last  draws  us  to  accept  a  compromise  between  them,  and  we  will 
call  the  resultant  name  Federative  Corporation.  This  compro 
mise  may  be  stated  thus : — States  and  large  cities  are  SPONTA 
NEOUS  corporations  with  DOUBLE  charters,  one  charter  from  the 
Nation  above  them,  and  the  other  charter  from  the  Precincts 
below  them.  There  is  no  more  difficulty  in  conceiving  this 
thought,  than  in  conceiving  the  thought  of  a  railroad  deriving 
its  charter  from  two  different  states,  which  is  a  very  frequent 
occurrence.  But  we  must  remember,  that  As  Corporations  they 
are  spontaneous,  and  have  their  right  of  charter  given  by  nature, 
without  the  artifice  or  deliberation  of  man  ;  and  therefore  it 
would  be  quite  as  true  an  idea  to  conceive  of  states  and  cities, 
as  confederations  of  Precincts,  duly  authorized  by  the  Nation. 

The  only  difficulty  is,  to  see  how  the  old  "  Colonies"  or  "  Settle 
ments/7  which  previously  and  historically  had  been  natural  and 
valid  Precincts, 'should  have  gradually  and  insensibly  lost  that 
character,  and  have  become  Corporations.  And  furthermore, 
some  which  had  at  first  been  actual  Corporations,  and  then 
changed  into  real  Precincts,  then  again  gradually  changed  back 
into  Corporations, — of  our  present  "State"  kind.  The  solution 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Tribe-principle.  Because  Precinct  and  Cor 
poration  are  two  of  the  elements  of  the  Tribe ;  and  as  has  been 
previously  stated,  one  of  the  peculiar  traits  of  all  the  three  ele 
ments  of  the  Tribe  is,  their  tendency  to  and  facility  of,  inter 
changing  themselves,  one  for  the  other.  And  this  very  tendency 
and  facility,  are  some  of  the  reasons  why  those  three  elements 
had  to  be  co-ordinated  into  one  in  our  general  theory. 

Reasonably  therefore,  it  was  deemed  best  to  place  this  subject 
at  the  end  of  the  treatment  of  the  Precinct.  And  this  was  espe- 


"STATES"   AND    LARGE    CITIES.  201 

cially  necessary,  because  without  it,  the  theory  of  the  Precinct 
would  be  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory.  Nevertheless>  we  re 
tain  a  place  and  heading  for  this  subject  in  the  classification 
of  Corporations,  for  the  satisfaction  of  those  persons  who  would 
prefer  the  latter  place  for  it.  We  might  perhaps  ourself  have 
preferred  CORPORATION  as  the  best  place  for  it,  were  it  not  that 
that  subject,  as  an  element  of  government,  is  less  familiar  to 
the  reader  and  much  more  difficult  and  complicated  in  its  own 
nature ;  and  therefore  it  was  deemed  best  to  keep  it  as  unen 
cumbered  as  possible. 

We  say  then,  all  political  or  governmental  organizations  or 
divisions,  superior  to  the  small  Precinct,  except  the  Nation,  may 
be  regarded  as  federative  Corporations  constituted  by  the  union 
of  Precincts. 

(6)  Right  of  Precincts  to  form  into  Federative  Corporations. 
The  necessity  for  an  express  charter  or  legal  permission  for  the 
existence  of  any  Corporations,  whether  financial  or  political,  is 
not  at  all  inherent  natural  or  necessary  to  the  matter.  This 
necessity  has  arisen  under  English  laws,  and  because  of  a  lum 
bering  clumsy  artificiality  of  our  laws,  which  arbitrarily  stand 
ready  to  construe  a  union  for  any  special  purpose  (except  pur 
chasing  or  holding  of  Real  Estate)  as  an  unlimited  partnership 
for  all  purposes.  In  nature,  (as  indeed  ought  to  be  the  case  in 
the  law)  all  voluntary  partnerships  are  limited,  which  do  not 
expressly  assert  the  contrary;  yet  in  law,  the  reverse  is  the 
arbitrary  principle.  But  now,  when  the  voluntary  association 
becomes  greatly  co-extensive  with  any  one  neighborhood,  there 
arises  a  Precinct  business  interest,  and  this  interest,  in  the  acci 
dents  of  history,  was  necessitated  to  obtain  charters  and  become 
Corporations,  as  in  the  free  cities  of  Europe.  And  this  again, 
not  because  of  any  inherent  necessity,  but  because  these  Corpo 
rations  had  arisen  among  the  industrial  classes,  who  were  then 
serfs,  only  gradually  becoming  either  free  in  person,  or  capable 
of  holding  property  or  of  self-government,  and  only  gradually 
asking  their  rights  from  the  landed  and  feudal  aristocracy.  And 
thus  the  charters  of  these  free  states,  were  in  a  degree,  obtaining 
freedom,  property  and  self-government,  all  at  once,  for  such  Pre 
cincts.  Thus  it  often  happens,  that  an  artificial  or  secondarily 
derived  Corporation,  namely  a  State  or  Barony,  gives  the  legal 


202  BK-  IL    PRECIXCT.    ii.  xii. 

status  or  authority  to  a  natural  and  original  Corporation,  by  ac 
knowledging  to  it  the  return,  of  a  measure  of  the  rights  to 
which  it  is  rightfully  entitled  by  natural  principles  of  justice 
and  Social  Science. 

We  see  there  are  several  kinds  of  Corporations,  commonly"  so 
called.  One  kind,  the  Precinct  itself,  we  do  not  count  as  a  Cor 
poration,  but  as  an  eternal  spontaneity  and  natural  unit  of  society. 
But  those  subsidiary  Corporations  that  may  be  created  within  its 
limits,  are  our  first  kind.  The  other  kinds  are  secondary,  con 
sisting  of  those  which  are  more  or  less  outside  of  the  individual 
Precinct.  Now,  our  theory  regarding  the  Precincts  as  the  origi 
nal  elements  or  units  of  power,  requires  us  to  admit,  as  of  agents, 
the  equal  rights  of  such  Corporations  as  consist  of  either  two  or 
more  Precincts,  and  also  of  such  voluntary  associations  as  two  or 
more  of  them  may  incorporate  or  constitute :  We  mean  the  equal 
ity  of  their  rights  with  those  of  Corporations  organized  or  con 
stituted  by  central  national  powers,  so  that  these  again  must  at 
any  rate  be  classified  into  a  third  kind,  or  tertiary  Corporations, 
and  on  entirely  different  principles  from  the  former  two  kinds. 

And  then  again,  there  is  a  kind  of  corporation  which  is,  as  it 
were,  a  delegate  authorized  by  a  delegate,  namely  a  corporation 
authorized  by  a  previous  yet  continuing  corporation.  Such  are 
all  the  corporations  which  are  chartered  by  those  mongrel  in 
stitutions  we  call  states.  For  these  states  themselves,  being  only 
corporations  of  a  peculiar  kind,  present  this  singular  phenom 
enon,  of  one  corporation  authorizing  and  chartering  another  for 
political  functions,  and  also  for  other  businesses.  Such  are 
nearly  all  the  railroads,  canals,  and  business  corporations  in 
the  United  States.  The  only  powers  that  ought  to  pretend  to 
charter  any  thing,  are  the  Nation  and  the  small  Precincts;  and 
charters  ought  to  be  as  easy  and  as  free  as  partnerships. 

If  we  admit,  for  states  as  well  as  cities,  only  the  status  of  cor 
porations,  and  not  that  of  fundamental 'instinctive  elements  or 
units  of  society,  we  would  not  undervalue  them  thereby;  because 
our  theory  elevates  corporation  itself,  from  the  position  of  a  mere 
creature  of  government,  to  that  of  a  fundamental,  although  arti 
ficial  or  rational  element.  By  thus  elevating  the  corporation, 
we  would  not  degrade  the  city  and  state.  The  thing  that  our 
theory  really  does  affect,  is  the  Precinct,  which  it  raises  at  one 


"STATES"   AND    LARGE   CITIES.  203 

bound,  from  the  low  position  given  to  it  by  the  low  theory  of 
corporation,  to  the  high  position  of  a  fundamental  instinctive 
unit  of  society. 

(c)  Temporary  uses  of  "States." — Although  the  division  of 
Nations  into  provinces  and  states,  has  no  foundation  in  the 
fundamental  principles  of  government;  yet,  so  long  as  Social 
Science  is  in  its  infancy,  and  Mankind  so  imperfect,  the  division 
is  of  very  high  importance  as  a  provisional  one  for  temporary 
purposes.  For  one  thing ;  a  province  or  state  serves  providen 
tially  to  counterbalance  the  large  city,  by  a  power  that  will  do 
the  least  evil  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  good ;  for  there  is 
no  other  power  that  can  be  proposed  for  such  a  counterbalance, 
except  the  Nation.  But  inasmuch  as  corruption  increases  in 
direct  ratios,  to  the  sum  of  the  population,  the  size  of  the  coun 
try,  and  the  distance  of  the  party  governed  from  the  party 
governing;  but  is  in  the  inverse  ratio  to  the  restrictions  of 
power; — it  is  inferable  without  doubt,  that  in  general,  the 
national  power  operating  directly  as  a  check  to  the  city,  would 
be  overwhelming,  and  thus  be  a  worse  balancing  organ  than  some 
intermediate  political  power,  which  should  be  similar  in  one  of 
the  two  great  elements  constituting  the  divisions ;  for  instance, 
similar  in  population,  as  it  of  course  could  not  be  similar  in 
geographical  surface.  But  you  may  ask,  why  should  surface 
have  any  thing  to  do  with  it?  We  answer,  because  surface,  al 
though  little  for  aggression,  is  every  thing  for  defence;  and 
because  surface  scantly  occupied,  belongs  to  futurity. 

Another  use  of  states,  so  long  as  they  are  maintained,  has 
been  for  state  prisons,  and  might  be  to  make  punishment-cities 
more  practicable.  In  order  to  form  such  cities  large  enough  to 
be  useful,  they  would  need  to  be  the  receptacles  of  the  criminals 
from  many  Precincts.  And  this  would  require,  either,  state  or 
national  co-operation,  unless  indeed  it  were  deemed  better  to  let 
the  Precincts  themselves  make  special  leagues  or  confederations 
for  such  purposes.  But  this  would  require  a  very  high  degree 
of  Christian  civilization,  to  justify  it,  or  to  make  it  successful. 

§  2.   Cities  equivalent  to  States,  in  rights  and  responsibilities. 

One  of  the  foundations  for  State,  in  distinction  from  Precinct 
and  Nation,  is  the  existence  of  metropolitan  cities,  which,  states 
sometimes  claim  as  the  property  of  the  one  in  which  they  are 


204  BK- ii.    PRECINCT,    ii.  xii. 

located.  But  such  a  claim  is  generally  spurious,  and  in  the  case 
of  large  cities,  always  so.  For  instance,  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
belongs  as  much  in  its  business  relations,  and  also  socially  and 
financially,  to  New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  in  proportion  to  their 
size,  as  it  does  to  Pennsylvania.  Likewise  New  York  City  be 
longs  to  New  Jersey,  Khode  Island  and  Connecticut,  as  well. 
But  the  fact  is,  that  all  these  large  cities  belong  to  the  Nation, 
socially  and  financially.  It  is  the  national  trade  and  tariff  that 
has  built  these  metropolitan  cities.  It  is  the  trade  both  domestic 
and  foreign,  of  the  separate  parts  of  the  whole  Nation.  Hence, 
such  a  city  has  a  better  claim  on  principle,  to  be  an  original  unit, 
that  is,  a  state,  than  any  one  of  the  several  United  States  them 
selves.  And  as  long  as  the  mongrel  distinctions  of  State  are 
kept  up,  these  metropolitan  cities  ought  to  claim  as  a  right,  that 
they  should  be  co-equal  states,  and  no  longer  subject  to  the 
fleecings  and  petty  tyrannies  of  state  legislatures,  but  responsible 
only  and  directly  to  the  general  government  on  the  one  hand, 
and  to  the  people  who  inhabit,  and  to  the  Precincts  of  which 
they  are  composed,  on  the  other  hand.  But,  until  government 
becomes  better,  perhaps  all  these  complications  are,  merely  diffi 
culties  in  the  way  of  greater  evils.  But  the  plea  of  a  certain 
great  city,  to  be  elevated  into  a  state,  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
war  which  it  had  indirectly  done  much  to  produce,  was  not 
just.  Let  it  stay,  and  take  its  share  of  its  own  evils ;  and 
"  never  swap  horses  in  crossing  a  stream." 

Cities  therefore,  especially  large  ones,  should  be  under  the 
control  of  some  supervisory  larger  country  power,  either  of 
state,  as  at  present,  or  rather  and  especially  under  the  national 
government ;  because  they  are  morally  and  metaphysically  the 
product  and  property  of  the  whole  public,  or  Nation,  and  profit 
by  the  Nation's  trade  and  progress  pre-eminently. 

But  besides  these  things,  also  their  powers  over  the  state,  their 
ability  to  sustain  taxation,  and  their  special  corruptibility,  and 
the  fact  of  the  invariable  collection  of  special  wickednesses  that 
voluntarily  flow  into  them,  all  require  their  submission  to  a 
superior  agricultural  or  country  power. 

And  such  a  submission  has  its  logical  justification  or  basis,  in 
this,  that  cities  are  the  offspring  of  and  dependent  upon,  a  large 
agricultural  or  country  district,  for  their  very  existence. 


"STATES"   AND   LARGE   CITIES.  205 

It  is  quite  apparent  to  all  thinking  persons,  that  the  manner 
is  grossly  unjust,  in  which,  for  instance,  the  Legislatures  of  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania,  tyrannize  over  their  great  Metropolises. 
It  is  equally  apparent,  that  it  would  be  productive  of  immense 
evil,  to  allow  New  York  City  to  begin  now  to  govern  itself,  and, 
that  the  government  would  be  administered  in  the  interests  of 
the  lawless  and  disorderly.  In  fact,  the  legislative  aid  of  the 
state  has  been  invoked  by  the  order-loving  citizens,  to  preserve 
their  city  from  evil ;  although  the  case  is  different  in  Pennsyl 
vania.  Hence  we  see  that  neither  the  state  nor  the  city  itself, 
can  be  trusted  to  govern  a  metropolitan  city.  That  the  national 
government  could  not  be  trusted  with  the  internal  administration 
of  such  a  city,  is  evidenced  by  the  mal-administration  of  Wash 
ington  City  for  many  years. 

The  only  alleviation  is,  to  have  the  city  divided  into  a  large 
number  of  small  Precincts,  each  of  which  shall  have  its  own 
internal  newly  apportioned  state  rights,  and  each  be  responsible 
to  the  general  government,  by  itself.  Then  the  Precincts  that 
would  allow  the  disorderly  to  rule,  would  soon  be  forsaken  by  the 
orderly  and  peace-loving  citizens,  who  would  naturally  fall  into 
Precincts  by  themselves ;  and  the  disorderly  and  riotous  might 
perhaps  murder  and  fight  one  another  to  their  hearts'  content,  so 
long  as  they  did  not  interfere  with  their  neighboring  peaceable 
Precincts,  nor  with  migrating  out  of  them,  nor  the  transit 
through  them ;  as,  in  that  case  they  would  come  under  the 
defence  and  military  possession  of  the  National  or  General 
Government,  the  same  as  any  other  Eebels. 

The  experiment  of  allowing  the  "state"  governments  to  con 
trol  the  affairs,  and  alter  the  charters,  of  large  cities  at  will,  has 
been  tried  and  found  wanting  and  abandoned,  both  in  Pennsyl 
vania  and  New  York.  A  state  should  have  no  more  right  to 
prescribe  the  width,  direction  or  other  circumstances,  of  the  ordi 
nary  streets  or  City-Rail-Ways  &c.,  IN  the  city,  than  the  general 
government  itself. 

On  the  other  hand,  any  particular  neighborhood  or  township, 
has  as  good  a  right  to  say,  whether  it  will  support  any  religion, 
whether  it  will  allow  Sunday  travel,  (of  course  except  the  travel 
under  government  sanction  of  the  larger  district  or  province,  for 
instance  the  Mail),  what  the  conditions  of  Divorce  of  its  own 


206  BK-  IL    PRECINCT.    II.  xii. 

citizens,  and  whether  it  will  license  liquor  or  brothels,  and 
whether  it  will  make  all  real  estate  return  to  a  general  fund, 
(of  course  compensating  all  the  present  holders),  and  what  com 
munistic  or  other  moral  experiments  may  be  allowed  : — Each 
neighborhood  has  the  same  political  right  to  do  these  things  for 
itself,  under  certain  restrictions,  as  the  state  itself  is  now  allowed 
to  have ;  and  with  the  new  apportionment  and  balances  of  power ; 
more  right.  The  business  of  a  "state"  is  not  arrogantly  to 
assume  all  these  rights  to  itself,  but  only  to  prescribe  and  define 
the  reasonable  limits,  within  which,  each  neighborhood  and  town 
ship  and  county  may  regulate  these  matters  for  themselves. 

This  theory,  it  will  be  seen,  claims  for  neighborhoods,  many 
rights  which  the  advocates  of  ultra-individual  liberty,  claim  for 
the  Individual,  and  is  thus  a  compromise  between  theories  that 
hitherto  have  seemed  to  be  in  radical  opposition.  It  is  also  a 
compromise  in  various  other  respects.  And  here  a  word  might 
be  dropped  quietly  in  the  ear  of  the  new  society  advocating  God 
and  religion,  &c.,  in  the  national  constitution.  Supposing  for 
argument's  sake  that  they  are  right  from  their  stand-point,  as  to 
their  religious  principles,  and  as  to  the  general  idea  of  the  rela 
tion  between  religion  and  government;  still  they  fail  .entirely  to 
discriminate  between  the  Precinct  and  the  Nation,  as  organs  of 
accomplishing  the  Divine  will  in  government.  And  the  same 
want  of  discrimination  seems  to  be  made  by  their  opponents, 
whether  high  church  or  non-church  men,  of  whatever  affilia 
tion. 

In  cities,  the  close  proximity  of  the  population  of  many  Pre 
cincts,  without  any  geographical  lines'  or  distances  between  them, 
constitutes  their  chief  peculiarity :  thus,  the  peculiar  functions 
of  cities  require  the  putting  forth  of  new  organs.  And  the  idea 
that  sums  up  all  these  organs,  under  which  they  must  classify 
themselves,  is,  special  organizations  of  all  these  small  Precincts, 
of  which  they  are  composed.  Besides  being  divided  into  small 
Precincts,  the  same  as  said  above,  the  special  organization  of  the 
whole  city  should  have  special  powers,  the  exact  limits  of  which 
are  not  easy  to  give  fully,  until  after  some  experience  shall  have 
been  had,  and  further  study  given  to  its  details.  Nor  is  it  neces 
sary  to  discover  all  the  details  of  a  plan,  before  perceiving  the 
utility  in  general  of  the  plan  itself. 


"STATES"   AND    LARGE   CITIES.  207 

A  consolidated  municipal  Police  and  Board  of  Health  would 
at  least  be  necessary ;  whilst  the  Fire  Department  and  Boards 
of  Trade,  Water  and  Gas,  might  be  either  municipal  powers,  or 
special  corporations.  Probably  the  city  government  might  be 
best  accomplished  by  an  equal  number  of  rulers,  chosen  partly 
according  to  its  own  general  municipal  principles  and  by  its 
own  members  ;  and  partly  by  the  state,  so  long  as  such  mongrels 
as  our  states  are  tolerated,  or  instead  thereof,  by  the  national 
government.  This  is  proposed  as  a  constitution  for  the  general 
city  power ;  and  of  course  is  not  intended  to  disturb  the  Precinct- 
powers,  reserved  to  each  of  the  many  small  Precincts  which  the 
city  is  to  be  considered  as  consisting  of. 

We  need  not  depend  on  theory  alone  for  the  settlement  of 
these  questions,  but  on  actual  experiment.  The  city  of  Phila 
delphia,  for  150  years,  that  is  from  its  origin  until  about  the 
year  1850,  consisted  of  several  distinct  corporations  or  boroughs, 
as  distinct  as  Philadelphia  is  from  Pittsburg.  Afterwards  they 
became  consolidated  into  one  corporation,  and  that  experiment 
has  been  tried  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  The  subsequent 
amount  of  corruption  and  destruction  of  private  rights,  clearly 
proves  that  the  larger  the  political  organization,  the  more  cor 
rupt  it  becomes.  The  only  objection  to  the  old  organization  of 
independent  boroughs,  was  the  facility  which  it  gave  for  rowdies 
and  criminals  to  escape  from  one  borough  into  another.  But 
after  suffering  for  many  years,  the  boroughs  adopted  an  organ 
ization  of  consolidated  police,  and  this  effectually  corrected  the 
evil.  The  city  had  not  been  governed  nearly  so  well  for  twenty 
years  before,  and  has  never  been  better  governed  since.  Although 
Mayor  Henry  did  as  well  as  mortal  could  do.  This  consolida 
tion  of  police,  cured  the  evil ;  and  is  one  illustration,  among 
many  that  might  be  given,  why  Precincts  with  state-powers, 
should  be  allowed  to  form  special  leagues  with  each  other. 

Another  instance  is  the  city  of  London,  which,  during  all 
the  hundreds  of  years  of  its  existence,  and  to  this  day,  although 
the  largest  city  in  the  world,  consists  of  a  number  of  distinct 
and  separate  corporate  boroughs. 

§  3.  Special  Needs  in  Large  Cities. 

(a)  In  General.  Cities  are  entirely  an  artificial  product,  and 
city  life  is  not  entirely  an  instinctive  one ;  therefore  men,  like 


208  BK-  IL    PRECINCT,    n.  XIL 

animals  when  out  of  their  instinctive  life,  are  unable  to  help 
themselves  by  their  unaided  ordinary  instinctive  powers.  Cities 
therefore  require  a  high  degree  of  social  science.  Yet  Spencer 
makes  no  radical  allowance  for  city  organization.  His  theory 
will  not  answer  for  "  Corporations."  He  requires  such  a  per 
sistent  adherence  to  the  "  let  alone"  doctrine,  as  to  advise  even 
that  the  streets  should  be  allowed  to  become  foul,  until  by  pro 
ducing  diseases  and  annoyances,  and  affecting  the  prices  of  Real 
Estate,  and  the  standard  of  the  neighborhood,  capitalists  may 
ultimately  be  induced  to  form  voluntary  corporations  for  the 
purpose  of  cleaning  them,  without  the  aid  or  prompting  of  the 
city  government. 

Up  to  a  certain  point  of  size,  cities  or  towns  improve  the 
health  and  morality  of  Mankind.  Just  in  proportion  as  men 
get  nearer  together,  their  intercourse  becomes  more  frequent,  and 
general  intelligence  increases.  Brought  together  for  business  or 
occupation,  they  yet  derive,  incidentally,  other  and  very  different 
advantages,  from  the  very  frequent  intercourse  of  social  life, 
increased  opportunities  and  inducements  for  intellectual  and 
moral  culture,  and  for  religious  exercises.  The  very  fact  itself 
of  a  larger  circle  of  personal  acquaintances,  contributes  to  the 
general  improvement  of  the  inhabitants. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  deeply  felt  by  every  practical  social 
scientist,  that  large  cities  present  many  features  requiring  special 
treatment,  and  produce  many  special  vices  dangers  and  suffer 
ings,  difficult  to  cope  with  successfully,  by  any  treatment  yet 
imagined.  Statistics  drawn  from  some  of  the  old  cities  of 
Europe  show,  that  the  population  actually  dies  out  every  few 
(say  six  or  seven)  generations,  and  that  they  are  sustained  only 
by  the  influx  of  new  blood  and  new  persons  from  the  country. 
This  course  of  things  shows  there  is  something  radically  wrong, 
either  in  city  life  itself,  or  in  the  lack  of  discovery  as  yet  of  the 
true  principles  of  city  government.  We  shall  have  occasion  to 
examine  into  this  matter  at  some  length,  under  the  heads  of 
"  Health"  and  "  Life."  At  present,  all  we  can  delay  to  con 
sider  is,  the  relation  of  this  subject  to  our  Precinct-theory, 
namely,  to  constituting  cities  into  small  Precincts  for  their  polit 
ical  administration.  We  may  remark  then,  that  all  the  general 
arguments  for  our  theory  are,  like  everything  else,  intensified, 


"STATES"   AND   LARGE   CITIES.  209 

when  applied  to  large  cities.  \Ve  may  also  remark  that  the 
growth  of  very  large  cities  ought  to  be  discouraged ;  and  their 
connection  with  the  whole  national  power,  might  tend  in  that 
direction;  but  that  "state"  powers  foster  the  LARGE  cities.  Be 
cause  no  state  has  more  than  one  such,  and  therefore  encourages 
concentration ;  but  the  national  policy  would  be,  as  it  generally 
has  been,  to  encourage  the  dissemination  of  population.  In 
fact,  the  function  of  new  cities  is  just  as  much  a  part  of  our 
national  policy,  as  the  settlement  of  new  farms. 

(b)  Residences  and  Occupations  too  far  Apart.  Next,  coming 
to  the  special  arguments ;  the  great  political  object  is  to  induce 
citizens  to  reside  within  the  Precincts  where  their  occupation 
lies.  To  this  end  the  following  reasons  may  be  given.  Yet  the 
great  remedy  is  the  Precinct-system.  Minor  remedies  may  come 
up  under  "  Civil  Government."  But  at  present  all  we  can  do, 
is  to  give  some  reasons  or  arguments  for  this  uniting  of  resi 
dences  and  occupations  in  near  neighborhood. 

(1)  Under  the  present  scattering  system,  the  number  of  in 
habitants  becomes  so  great,  and  the  Individual  persons  so  fluc 
tuating,  that  the  citizens  become  less  and  less  watchers  or  critics 
of  one  another,  whether  for  preventing  wrong  doing,  or  for 
arresting  criminals.  Then  the  criminals  can  find  hiding  places 
in  obscure  lanes  and  bye- ways,  and  under  the  cover  of  acquaint 
ances  whose  occupations  are  unknown ;  then  morality  begins  to 
deteriorate,  temptations  increase,  and  the  powers  of  counterac 
tion  proportionately  decrease.  (2)  Another  point  of  decrease 
of  honor  and  general  morality  in  cities,  is  reached,  when  their 
residents  in  large  numbers  become  so  fashionable  or  so  enfeebled 
in  health,  that  they  must  remove  their  residences  to  some  dif 
ferent  and  distant  parts  of  the  city,  from  those  in  which  they 
fulfill  their  daily  Occupations.  This  works  badly  in  several 
ways.  In  one  way,  it  has  a  similar  eifect  to  increasing  the  tran 
sient  and  fluctuating  part  of  the  population ;  it  gives  each  resi 
dent  so  much  less  time  and  so  much  less  interest  in  the 
neighborhoods,  both  of  his  residence  and  his  occupation.  Fur 
thermore,  some  of  the  best  hours  of  the  day  are  lost  in  the 
travel  to  and  fro.  (3)  The  head  of  the  house  is  absent  from 
his  home,  when  he  may  be  wanted  in  case  of  family  disputes, 
and,  needed  correction  of  children.  The  women  become  more 

14 


210  BK.  II.      PRECINCT.      II.  XII. 

and  more  given  to  trifling;  the  sanctity  of  marriage  is  more  and 
more  endangered.  All  the  better  feelings  of  family  life  are 
more  and  more  interrupted.  (4)  Another  way  in  which  this 
increasing  size  and  incidental  residence,  distant  from  the  places  of 
occupation,  does  injury,  is,  that  the  business  districts,  after  being 
forsaken  as  abodes  by  those  who  ought  to  continue  near  or  in 
them,  often  become  occupied  by  the  lowest  classes  of  society, — 
in  that  interim  between  the  time  of  their  being  aristocratic 
enough  for  residences,  and  the  time  of  their  becoming  wanted 
for  grand  stores  and  offices.  A  large  Precinct  of  this  kind,  con 
taining  the  largest  portion  of  the  city's  wealth,  will  sometimes 
be  inhabited  chiefly  by  Individuals  who  have  neither  property, 
reputation,  nor  permanent  residence  in  the  locality.  Our  Pre 
cinct-theory  would  not  at  all  apply  to  such  cases.  To  prevent 
the  political  and  party  evils  arising  from  these  causes,  the  wards 
in  Philadelphia  are  often  found  divided  so  as  to  be,  say,  two 
miles  long,  and  only  one-eighth  of  a  mile  wide ;  which  is  a  vio 
lation  of  the  first  principles  of  the  geography  of  the  Precinct- 
system,  and  increases  the  social  and  moral  evils  working  at  the 
bottom. 

(c)  Growth  of  Cities  too  Rapid  for  Social  Science.  The  evils  in 
large  cities  may  be  classified  according  to  two  principles  of  sepa 
ration.  One,  according  to  their  origin,  as  physical,  metaphysical, 
and  moral, — the  other  according  to  their  degree  of  permanence 
— into  removable,  and  irremovable,  or  as  the  New  York  Council 
of  Hygiene,  in  regard  only  to  physical  health,  says,  "  prevent 
able/'  and  "  not  preventable."  But  after  all,  the  classification 
of  removable  or  irremovable,  is  very  defective  for  Social  Science, 
in  the  question  regarding  the  size  of  cities;  because  size  itself  has 
all  imperceptible  degrees,  and  because  the  relation  of  size  is  com 
plicated  again  with,  and  ever  varies  with  the  capacity  of  Social 
Science  to  cope  with  the  subject. 

It  must  be  admitted,  that  the  tendency  of  men  to  concentrate 
in  cities,  has  ever  been  in  advance  of  the  morality  and  the  sci 
ences  that  are  necessary  to  govern  them.  So  that  even  under 
despotic  governments,  they  become  pests  morally  and  socially; 
whilst  in  republics,  in  addition  to  these  evils,  there  are  the  evils 
of  riot  and  mob-ocracy.  Hence,  one  of  the  necessary  methods 
of  preventing  the  evils  is,  checking  the  growth  itself,  until  social 


"STATES"   AND   LARGE    CITIES.  211 

and  political  science  can  come  nearer  to  catching  up  with  the 
evils.  Hence  then,  it  becomes  prudent  to  discourage  the  too 
rapid  influx  of  human  beings  into  ONE  locality.  And  this  is 
best  effected,  in  the  usual  and  most  approved  manner  of  social 
retardments,  especially  by  direct  taxes,  and  sufficient  in  amount 
to  effect  the  objects  aimed  at, 

Accordingly,  taxes  should  be  imposed  in  cities  on  the  male 
population  over  the  age  of  18.  Also,  a  tax  per  acre  on  the 
amount  of  ground  built  upon,  not  counting  the  yards  or  areas 
not  built  upon.  Also  a  tax  per  cubic  foot  of  all  buildings,  except 
residences  of  small  tenants ;  tax  to  be  paid  by  the  owner.  Also 
a  tax  on  all  living  expenditures  over  certain  specified  amounts 
per  person  of  any  age ;  tax  to  be  paid  by  the  head  of  the  Family. 
These  extra  taxes  should  be  commanded,  and  their  total  Precinct 
amounts,  or  else  their  percentages,  should  be  specified  in  general, 
by  the  government  of  the  state  or  Nation ;  but  the  PROCEEDS 
should  be  collected  and  expended  by  the  Amalgam  of  the  city 
Precincts,  and  be  expended  solely  for  the  physical  and  moral 
improvement  of  the  city  itself,  and  be  fairly  apportioned  to 
each  Precinct  therein, — instead  of,  for  instance,  on  the  principle 
of  having  all  in  one  grand  park,  and  that  perhaps,  3  or  4  miles 
from  the  city's  centre  where  fresh  air  is  most  needed.  Further 
more,  all  private  persons  who  have  open  lots  duly  planted, 
should  be  accounted  benefactors,  and  so  much  of  their  lots  as 
were  thus  planted,  should  be  exempt  from  all  taxation. 

In  these  and  all  other  possible  ways,  the  rules  and  expenditures 
which  tended  DIRECTLY  to  discourage  the  increase  of  the  city, 
should  INCIDENTALLY  tend  to  make  it  more  healthy  and  more 
moral.  But  there  are  so  many  evils  to  be  counteracted,  that  only 
faithful  and  long  continued  experiments,  can  prove  what  are  the 
best  methods  of  counteraction. 

One  of  the  most  important  views  of  the  advantages  of  small 
Precincts,  will  be  found  in  connection  with  cities :  because  the 
advantages  of  the  system  will  be  most  apparent  among  them; 
both  because  there  is  the  most  need  for  this  principle  of  sub 
division,  and  also  because,  by  the  facility  of  removals,  the  plan 
would  the  more  easily  be  put  into  actual  operation.  •  Indeed, 
perhaps  cities  are  the  places  appointed  by  Providence,  for  the 
trial  of  most  kinds  of  practical  "  experiments ;"  for  therein 


212  BK.  II.      PRECINCT.      II.  XII. 

the  results  become  quickly  visible  to  a  multitude  of  "  ob 
servers." 

(d)  Plan  of  treating  Fallen  Districts.  Here  is  a  plan  for  bene- 
fitting  Five  Points,  Bedford  street,  Sink,  and  other  such  places, 
and  is  a  sort  of  exception  to  other  general  rules. 

A  Precinct  of  this  kind,  would  bear  a  somewhat  similar  rela 
tion  to  the  city,  that  a  city  now  under  the  old  theory,  bears  to  the 
state,  which  in  fact  is  somewhat  similar  in  principle,  to  what  a 
conquered  province  bears  to  the  conquering  country,  after  the 
return  to  a  condition  of  settled  peace.  It  is  a  kind  of  absolute 
dependence  of  the  smaller  upon  the  greater;  exercised  partly 
for  the  good  of  the  province  itself,  and  partly  for  the  good  of  the 
whole.  The  fall  of  any  Precinct  into  the  condition  of  a  rendez 
vous  for  social  outcasts,  must  be  regarded  as  in  principle,  a  sort 
of  rebellion  against  the  general  city,  however  sincere,  however 
mistaken,  however  ill-treated,  tke  rebels  may  be,  or  conceive 
themselves  to  be.  But  on  the  other  hand,  as  these  kinds  of 
rebels  have  the  right  to  live,  the  rebellion  must  be  treated  rather 
as  one  by  a  Locality,  than  as  one  by  Individuals.  It  is  a  rebel 
lion  whose  essence  consists,  not  in  violence  against  human  wills, 
nor  in  warring  against  the  citizens  generally;  but  rather  as  a 
taking  away  of  the  public  land.  The  world's  plan  is,  to  turn 
the  poor  creatures  out  of  doors,  every  once  in  a  while,  to  please 
fanatical  zeal. 

Our  plan  is  as  follows. 

Let  the  neighborhood  within  prescribed  limits,  be  legally  con 
stituted,  separately,  into  a  Reformatory  Precinct  under  the  imme 
diate  control  of  some  sufficiently  general  and  superior  power. 
This  would  naturally  draw  many  respectable  people  out  of  it. 
These  should  be  compensated,  in  all  cases  where  the  law  is 
applied,  either  suddenly  or  soon  after  the  time  of  the  enactment 
thereof.  Constituting  the  locality  into  a  Reformatory  Precinct, 
would  give  special  powers  to  make  special  regulations  binding  on 
property  holders,  to  keep  the  places  decently  clean  and  healthy. 
The  power  of  the  municipal  government,  when  fully  applied, 
should,  extend  to  confining  the  residents  within  the  Precinct.  But 
not  to  exclude  honest  citizens,  having  known  and  visibly  honest 
means  of  support  &c.  from  entering  and  returning.  Special  per 
mits  might  be  given  to  the  most  deserving  and  improving  resi- 


APPROXIMATION   BY   CHARTERS.  213 

dents,  to  go  out  to  work,  or  to  gather  fragments.  It  should  also 
prevent  any  other  persons  from  moving  into  it,  to  reside  therein. 
Stations  of  work,  and  of  gratuitous  supply  of  the  absolute  neces 
saries  of  life,  should  be  located  there.  All  spirituous  liquors 
should  be  kept  out,  and  dram  shops  closed  up  therein.  The 
women .  and  children  should  be  specially  cared  for,  with  more 
minor  comforts  than  the  men.  Schools  for  teaching,  not  only 
the  rudiments  of  reading,  writing,  arithmetic  &c.;  but  also  for 
teaching  the  common  sense  principles  of  success  in  every  day 
life,  the  principal  motives  and  uses  for  common  self-control, 
common  morality,  and  the  rudiments  of  responsibility  and  grati 
tude  to  God  and  man;  as  enforced  by  suffering  and  as  taught  by 
nature.  Free  encouragement  should  be  given  to  the  various 
religious  missions,  to  maintain  their  good  works ;  and  suitable 
buildings  or  rooms  should  be  furnished  to  them  by  the  city, 
without  charge.  A  small  prison  should  be  arranged  within  the 
Precinct  itself,  and  a  special  police  arrangement  to  suit  the 
peculiar  people.  Small  sums  of  money  should  be  given  to  them 
as  rewards.  A  portion  of  the  houses  should  be  taken  to  supply 
free  lodgings  of  the  plainest  kind,  sexes  apart.  Also  free  medi 
cal  attention  and  medicines,  and  as  many  things  free  as  possible, 
but  under  advices  as  to  what  and  when. 

But  this  subject  runs  into  that  about  the  Punishment-Cities, 
which  are  to  be  considered  under  the  head  of  Government.  The 
chief  difference  is,  that  criminals  and  all  who  cannot  pretty  fully 
clear  themselves  of  suspicion  of  felony  and  similar  offences, 
should  be  carefully  and  thoroughly  excluded,  even  from  occasional 
entrance  anywhere  within  the  bounds  of  these  "fallen  districts;" 
The  entire  separation  of  professional  criminals  from  openly  fallen 
women,  is  one  of  the  only  means  of  either,  detecting,  punishing, 
or  preventing  general  crimes;  as  well  as  a  necessary  means  of 
preserving  or  restoring  the  women  and  their  children.  Nor  is  it 
socially  just,  to  confuse  the  open  sexual  immorality  of  women, 
with  the  secret  crimes  of  felony.  And  as  to  the  'deeper  moral 
and  religious  questions  involved,  this  is  not  the  part  of  the  sci 
ence  in  which  to  consider  them. 


214  BK-  n.    PRECINCT,    in.  i. 


PART     III. 

CONCLUSION    OF    THE   PRECINCT:    PARTIAL 
APPLICABILITY  BY   CHARTERS. 

CHAP.  I.    IN   GENERAL. 

It  seems  an  appropriate  method  whereby  to  conclude  both  this 
whole  article  on  the  Precinct,  and  also  this  part  about  the  rela 
tions  of  states  and  cities  to  Corporations, — to  introduce  a  topic, 
which  although  entirely  different  from  either  of  them,  and  from 
our  whole  theory  of  the  Precinct,  yet  nevertheless  has  no  other 
so  proper  a  place  in  the  work,  and  yet  has  much  intrinsic  and 
PRACTICAL  importance,  namely, — the-  topic  of  how  far,  and  by 
what  principles,  the  general  advantages  of  our  theory  of  the 
Precinct,  could  be  realized  by  one  or  more  Precincts,  by  means 
of  charters  merely,  and  not  upon  grounds  of  general  rights  ;  and 
without  an  alteration  of  the  constitution  of  the  Nation,  although 
they  might  involve  an  alteration  of  the  constitution  of  the  par 
ticular  state.  Because,  there  are  late  decisions  in  Pennsylvania, 
that  "the  state  legislature  cannot  delegate  to  the  people  the 
power  to  enact  laws."  But  of  course  this  is  only  a  dodge  of  the 
" legists"  for  the  charters  of  all  boroughs  and  cities,  involve  the 
right  of  those  corporations  to  make  certain  kinds  of  laws.  And 
if  they  can  delegate  to  the  borough,  why  not  also  delegate  to  the 
people  of  a  "  ward"  ? 

This  topic  to  be  sure,  might  be  postponed  to  CORPORATION. 
If  so,  it  would  come  under  the  head  of  corporations  exercising 
governmental  and  political  functions;  and  under  the  lower  or 
derivative  order,  exercising  functions  under  present  govern 
ments,  and  under  the  subdivision,  for  general  functions.  But 
the  reservation  of  this  topic  to  that  element  of  society,  would  in 
terfere  too  much  with  the  very  general  abstract  and  theoretical 
mode  of  thought  there  pursued. 

In  general  we  may  remark,  that  persons  who  cannot  receive 
the  PRECiNCT-theory  in  the  fullness  of  foundation  we  give  to  it, 
may  probably  be  able  to  admit  the  rights,  as  grants  from  a  supe 
rior  power.  This  would  be,  in  effect,  to  rank  Precincts  as  Corpo 
rations,  in  which  case,  nearly  our  whole  argument  on  freedom  of 
Corporations,  would  become  a  part  of  the  Precinct  argument,  and 


BY   CHARTERS   FROM    THE    NATION.  215 

would  counterbalance,  by  extent,  what  was  lost  in  the  depth,  of 
the  foundation.  But  we  have  aimed  to  place  the  rights  of  Pre 
cincts  upon  more  durable  reasons,  regarding  as  we  do,  Precincts 
to  be  spontaneous  and  instinctive  units  of  society,  with  inaliena 
ble  rights,  concurrent  with  the  rights  of  all  the  other  units,  Indi 
vidual,  Family,  Nation,  <fcc.  But  after  all,  it  is  not  so  important 
now,  and  practically,  what  grounds  we  place  the  rights  upon,  as 
it  is,  how  Extensive  we  will  grant  those  rights  shall  be. 

CHAP.  II.    BY  CHARTERS   FROM   THE    NATION. 

The  simplest  and  best  method  would  be,  by  charters  from  the 
Nation  itself.  But  this  could  not  be  constitutionally  effective 
within  the  limits  of  already  existing  and  completed  "  states/7  un 
less  by  their  consent.  The  general  government  alone,  could  only 
furnish  such  charters  for  its  "  territories,"  or  such  parts  of  them 
as  it  chose  so  to  do.  But  of  course,  no  such  charter  could  convey 
any  more  power,  than  what  the  general  government  might  convey 
to  any  other  of  its  "  new  states."  These  powers  would  be  more 
ample,  however,  than  any  yet  conveyed  to  a  new  state.  But  no 
thoroughly  ample  grants  could  be  given  by  charter,  even  by  the 
Nation,  without  a  previous  alteration  of  ITS  "  constitution." 

In  "  old  states,"  even  granting  ample  charters  to  Precincts 
within  them,  considerable  facilities  would  be  obtained  by  the 
grant  of  charters  from  the  general  government  also ;  so  that  each 
Precinct  would  thus  have  two  charters. 

If  charters  were  given  by  the  Nation,  whether  alone  or  con 
currently,  the  principles  hereinafter  mentioned,  would  most  gen 
erally  apply  with  equal  suitability. 

There  are  some  objects,  which,  for  their  complete  attainment, 
or  even  for  their  satisfactory  trial,  would  require  the  subsequent 
co-operation  of  the  national  government,  for  instance,  Peace- 
Precincts.  And  the  United  States  government  should  be  peti 
tioned  to  excuse  such  Peace-Precincts  from  all  military  burdens, 
both  personal  and  financial.  The  United  States  government  should 
also  be  petitioned  to  confirm  the  relief  of  some  of  the  Precincts, 
by  amendments  of  the  national  constitution,  so  as  to  make  their 
privileges  more  permanent,  and  their  independence  more  real, — 
somewhat  like  the  Free  Cities  of  Germany,  which  having  been 
established  even  in  the  Middle  Ages,  still  preserve  their  free- 


2]  6  BK-  IL      PRECINCT.      III.  III. 

dom,  and  give  us  specimens  of  .the  best,  happiest,  and  most 
effectual  governments  in  the  world. 

Even  Russia  had  granted  such  freedom  many  years  ago,  to  a 
large  peace  settlement  of  protestant  Mennonites  ;  but  lately  re 
voked  it.  This  drove  the  Mennonites  to  emigrate  to  the  United 
States,  whereupon  the  Russian  government  restored  the  grant. 
But  grants  revocable  at  will,  will  not  answer,  nor  anything  less 
than  irrevocable  charters.  Consequently  the  Russian  Mennon 
ites  still  continue  their  emigration  into  this  country.  They  are 
slightly  communists,  as  they  hold  their  pasture  lands  in  com 
mon,  and  perhaps  some  other  things.  They  had  a  difficulty  in 
finding  suitable  lands.  For  the  United  States  government,  with 
its  all  extravagant  waste  of  public  lands,  has  no  method  it  seems, 
to  encourage  settlements  either  in  joint  or  in  common  ownership. 
It  has  lands  for  Mormons,  and  "  squatters,"  and  reservations  for 
Indians,  but  not  for  communes, — until  paid  for  in  severalty. 

CHAP.  III.    BY   CHARTERS   FROM   A 

SUGGESTIONS. 

Here  we  are  to  consider  how  near  an  approximation  could  be 
made  to  our  Precinct-system,  by  any  one  "  State/7  without  any 
alteration  either  of  the  constitution  or  laws  of  the  Nation. 

If  nothing  better  nor  more  can  be  done,  it  would  be  something 
at  least,  if  each  state  would  give  to  its  townships  or  smallest 
Precincts,  at  least  the  county  powers  of  sheriffs,  &c.  Because,  a 
very  general  and  thorough  diminution  of  the  size  of  counties, 
even  without  any  radical  increase  of  the  powers,  would  be  a  first 
step  towards  the  proposed  new  order;  yet  as  it  would  not  pro 
vide  compensations  for  removals,  it  would  lack  one  of  the  ad 
vantages  of  the  more  radical  plan. 

It  is  certain  however,  that  any  State  might  give  to  any  one,  or 
a  few  adjoining  Precincts,  a  charter  so  as  to  embody  the  princi 
ples  herein  set  forth,  as  an  experiment.  And  the  experiment 
might  be  made  with  such  limitations,  either  of  time  or  s|)ace,  as 
would  avoid  running  excessive  risks  by  untried  plans. 

Of  course  any  change  should  be  made  gradually,  and  have  a 
few  years  of  notice,  that  all  persons  might  remove  to  the  dis 
trict  of  their  choice,  who  were  not  satisfied  with  the  ruling  ma 
jorities  or  powers  in  their  own  Precinct.  Another  feature  in 


CONSTITUTION    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES.  217 

the  starting  of  this  plan  is,  that  no  Precinct  should  be  forced 
into  this  arrangement.  But  each  one  should  have  the  choice, 
to  take  its  Precinct-freedom,  or  to  remain  under  the  old  state- 
machinery,  as  some  perhaps  would  do  at  first;  the  main  idea 
being,  to  increase  freedom,  not  to  diminish  it. 

CHAP.  IV.    THE   CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES  AS   A 
FORMAL   BASIS   FOB   A   "STATE." 

§  1.  In  General. 

In  order  to  put  the  proposed  theory  in  operation  in  the 
United  States,  it  would  not  need  to  be  adopted  by  the  general 
government  at  first ;  for  it  is  practicable  for  each  state  itself  to 
make  an  experimental  approximation  to  the  general  idea.  To  pro 
duce  this  change,  all  that  would  be  required  would  be, — first,. for 
any  state  to  adopt  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  for  its 
own  state-constitution,  substituting  therein  the  words  "  state,"  or 
"each  state,"  for  "United  States;"  and  "Governor"  for  "Presi 
dent;"  and  instead  of  "Governors,"  the  word  "Sheriffs:"  also, 
to  use  some  reasonable  precaution  against  local  oppression;  and 
to  make  a  few  other  verbal  alterations  which  would  obviously  be 
necessary.  And  second,  to  provide  by  general  law,  to  allow  any 
city  or  borough  which  would  accept  the  alteration,  to  accept  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  its  borough  charter,  with  a 
few  obvious  and  necessary  restrictions;  or  the  same  might  be 
granted  to  separate  Precincts  severally.  And  to  make  the  matter 
more  plain,  the  following  suggestions  are  offered;  showing  how 
any  one  or  more  states  might  give  to  any  one  (or  more)  county 
or  township  within  it,  such  an  enlarged  charter,  as  would  enable 
any  such  Precinct  to  exercise  generally  the  powers  which  the 
state  itself  now  has,  but  with  such  exceptions  as  will  presently 
be  mentioned.  Or  the  state,  by  general  law,  or  alteration  of  its 
"  constitution"  affecting  all  its  Precincts  or  townships,  might  so 
enact  and  provide.  The  idea  is,  that  each  Precinct  should  have 
the  same  powers  in  relation  to  the  state,  that  each  individual 
state  now  has,  in  relation  to  the  Nation,  under  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States : — with  the  exceptions  now  to  be  mentioned. 
§  2.  Exceptions. 

The  exceptions  or  reservations  to  the  state,  of  its  present 
powers,  might  all  be  comprised  in  general,  under  the  following 
five  classes. 


218  BK.  II.     PRECINCT.      III.  IV. 

(a)  Excepting: — Limitations  of  Time. — If  the  means  whereby 
the  change  was  effected,  were  charters  incorporating  Precincts, 
the  charters  need  not  be  perpetual,  but  might  be  made  either  for 
a  limited  time,  or  else  revocable  at  any  time  by  a  prescribed 
amount  of  majority  of  the  voters  of  the  state.    But  if  the  means 
were  a  general  law,  it  would  naturally  be  revocable  by  the  state, 
the  same  as  any  other  law ;  nevertheless,  some  definite  amount 
of  majority  should  be  prescribed,  under  which  the  law  should 
not  be  revocable ;  or  rather,  the  means  of  the  alteration  should 
be  what  is  commonly  called  an  alteration  of  the  constitution  of 
the  state. 

(b)  Excepting : — that  no  property-qualification  should  be  re 
quired  of  voters,  for  any  $ta£e-representative  or  officer.     This 
exception  is  necessary  to  guard  against  anticipated  logical  objec 
tions,  rather  than  to  accomplish  the  general  system  of  the  theory. 

(c)  Excepting: — all  matters  relating  to  the  government  of  the 
individual  state  in  its  totality,  and  in  its  relations  to  the  Nation. 
For,  its  state  government  would  need  to  be  continued,  both  for  the 
sake  of  its  own  general  internal  affairs,  and  also  for  the  sake  of 
its  relations  to  the  Nation. 

Of  course,  in  our  plan,  when  adopted  by  all  the  Precincts  of 
any  State,  the  old  state-machinery  would  be  largely  reduced  in 
number;  and  the  business  of  those  officers  that  remained,  would 
also  be  vastly  reduced.  The  only  absolute  necessity  for  retaining 
the  state-organization  at  all,  would  be  to  maintain  and  fulfill  its 
relations  to  the  general  government,  that  is  the  Nation.  But  if 
the  main  object  cannot  be  accomplished  throughout  a  whole  state, 
and  if  only  a  few  scattered  Precincts,  or  perhaps  only  one,  could 
get  such  a  charter,  then,  instead  of  adjoining  Precincts  in  every 
Amalgam,  having  equal  power  in  the  election  of  the  Precincts' 
officers,  the  state  itself  might  have  to  retain  those  powers  also. 

(d)  Excepting : — those  few  particulars  wherein  our  proposed 
system  differs  essentially  from  that  of  the  United  States,  in  the 
apportionment  of  powers.     These  items  have  been  already  men 
tioned  in  a  former  part  of  this  article,  where  we  drew  a  com 
parison  between  the  two  systems.     Accordingly,  the  state  might 
give  by  charter  to  its  individual  Precincts,  and  to  their  Amal 
gams,  all  the  rights  which  itself  possessed ..;  but  it  could  not  give 
those  which  the  Nation  ought  to  give :  and  it  would  be  folly  for 


DIRECT   FORMS   OF   CHARTER.  219 

it  to  give  to  the  Nation,  the  rights  which,  under  a  perfect  system, 
should  return  to  the  Nation,  because  there  are  other  rights  which 
ought  then  to  be  returned  from  the  Ration  to  the  Precinct,  which 
yet  the  state  has  no  power  to  take.  Hence,  the  rights  which,  in 
the  former  comparison  were  assigned  to  the  Nation,  should  be 
retained  by  the  states,  under  the  plan  of  state-corporations  here 
suggested;  otherwise  the  Nation  would  or  might  acquire  more 
than  its  share  of  power  in  the  alteration. 

(e)  Excepting : — all  aifairs  and  officers  having  relations  to,  and 
representatives  to  or  in,  the  government  of  the  United  States. 
No  alterations  of  these  relations  and  officers  can  be  made,  without 
the  consent  of  the  United  States  government.  That,  although 
desirable,  has  already  been  considered.  But  it  would  be  a  higher 
alteration  than  we  are  now  considering,  as  required  by  the  very 
nature  of  the  plan  by  state-corporations,  and  for  separate  state- 
adoption. 

CHAP.   V.      SIMPLE   AND   DIRECT   FORM   OF   CHARTER   FROM   A 

"STATE." 

A  still  better  method  of  charter,  (for  experiment)  than  the 
adaptation  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  would  be, 
to  grant  a  charter  expressing  directly,  a  complete  but  brief  out 
line  of  what  the  Precinct  rights  ought  to  be,  with  the  usual 
reservation, — "so  far  as  the  same  does  not  conflict  with  the  con 
stitution  or  laws  of  the  United  States."  A  form  of  charter  of 
this  kind,  adopted  by  any  state  subdividing  itself  into  small 
localities,  and  by  amendment  to  its  state  constitution,  would 
aiford  the  most  direct  and  most  satisfactory  experiment  that  is 
possible,  without  the  direct  co-operation  of  the  Nation  revising 
its  own  constitution. 

AYhat  would  be  wanted  would  be,  not  a  huge  volume  ot 
interminable  details;  but  a  real  "magna  charta,"  a  simple  "bill 
of  rights,"  a  charter  with  little  words,  but  big  ideas. 

However,  this  whole  subject  of  chartering  Precincts  by 
"States,"  is  only  incidental,  and  is  no  essential  part  of  the 
theory  of  the  Precinct. 

In  conclusion.  We  now  leave  this  theory  to  the  reader's 
careful  consideration;  if  it  shall  seem  to  him  to  deserve  it. 


BOOK    III. 

THE  "NATION". 


PART    I. 

THE    NATION  AS  A  FUNDAMENTAL  ELEMENT. 
CHAP.  I.    PRELIMINAEIES. 

THE  Nation  is  the  FIFTH  Unit  or  fundamental  Element  of 
society,  as  determined  in  our  Analytics.  So  much  however,  is 
said  of  this  topic  by  other  writers,  that  comparatively  little 
remains  for  us.  And  according  to  our  theory,  its  proportionate 
importance  is  over-estimated  by  most  other  writers.  In  a  true 
analysis,  some  part  of  what  is  usually  attributed  to  it  belongs  to 
Mankind,  and  another  part  belongs  to  Precinct,  and  another  to 
Corporation ;  so  that  only  a  fourth,  is  its  real  place.  We  have 
Precinct  on  the  one  side,  Corporation  on  the  other,  and  Man 
kind  above  it.  The  internal  affairs  of  Nation,  we  consider 
mostly  under  the  heads  of  Precinct  and  Corporation  and  "  Civil 
Government;"  the  higher  external  affairs  we  consider  partly, 
under  the  head  of  Mankind,  including  Nation  as  of  course  one 
of  its  fundamental  elements.  Hence,  in  this  article  we  have 
comparatively  rather  to  consider  the  theoretically  lower  or  inter 
mediate  affairs,  commonly  called  international  law,  but  in  a  wider 
sense  than  usual. 

In  fact,  one  of  the  great  works  which  Social  Science  has  to 
accomplish,  is  to  analyze  into  its  real  elements,  what  is  called 
"  The  .Law  of  Nations,"  and  thus  to  appropriate  to  each  depart 
ment,  its  appropriate  share.  For  the  custom  has  been,  to  collect 
under  this  term  all  the  general  principles  of  law,  and  even  of 
human  rights,  which  seem  to  have  no  more  suitable  place  in  the 
field  of  thought.  Thus  in  the  Roman  law,  the  phrase,  authority 
right  or  law,  of  Nations,  (jus  gentium), — generally  was  used  to 
express  that  sense  of  right  which  is  common  to  most  or  to  all 
220 


PRELIMINARY  TO  THIS  UNIT.  221 

men,  and  which  is  in  conformity  to  common  instinct  and  reason, 
and  which  is  called  by  us  the  law  of  nature.  Such  a  combina 
tion  is  all  very  well  in  an  address  by  "  counsel,"  but  is  not 
exactly  the  true  course  for  a  scientific  work.  The  absolute  law 
of  right,  the  relative  rights  of  established  usage,  the  law  of  God, 
the  modifications  by  voluntary  contract,  all  ought  to  be  some 
what  considered,  in  the  treatment  of  any  branch  of  practical 
morals,  or  of  applied  law ;  but  yet,  properly  belong  to  a  more 
general  and  higher  department  of  thought,  than  any  one  of 
them.  Thus  also  we  may  take  Grotius'  sources  of  international, 
and  generalize  them  as  the  true  foundations  of  all  law,  namely, 
nature's  law,  divine  law,  custom,  and  compact :  and  in  both 
departments,  custom  and  compact  may  be  put  together,  and 
again  generalized  into,  "  Consent/7  as  we  do  in  II.  I.  2,  of  this 
article. 

Interesting  also  are  the  questions,  how  far  voluntary  contracts 
or  agreements  modify,  what  otherwise  would  be  natural  laws,  or 
God's  law.  For  instance ;  is  it  right  to  use  explosive  bullets  in  a 
war  between  Nations  who  agree  to  do  so  ?  And  is  it  right  for 
human  beings  to  marry  for  a  limited  time,  even  if  they  agree  to 
do  so  ?  And  is  it  right  for  Nations  or  Individuals  to  lie,  cheat 
and  steal,  even  if  all  sides  agree  to  do  so?  But  .if  not,  then 
how  would  that  decision  affect  the  question  of  war  at  all,  or  of 
the  methods  of  conducting  war?  But  these  questions  belong 
rather  to  Moral  Philosophy  and  to  Theology. 

One  of  the  evils  of  so  confusing  Law  and  Right  in  general, 
with  international  law,  has  been  to  pervert  universal  principles, 
partly  in  favor  of  war,  and  partly  to  indulge  Nations  with  privi 
leges  to  do  wrong.  For,  until  the  last  few  years,  perhaps  we 
may  say  until  the  work  of  Mr.  Field,  the  law  of  Nations  has 
been  chiefly  occupied  with  matters  about  war,  providing  for,  or 
conducting,  or  concluding  it.  Thus,  pharisaically  strict  rules  of 
non-resistance,  have  been  taught  as  if  they  were  eternal  princi 
ples  obligatory  on  Individuals  and  Provinces  &c. ;  whilst  war  at 
the  same  time  has  been  held  forth,  as  if  it  were  very  wise  and 
good  between  Nations;  nay  as  if  it  were  their  most  glorious 
achievement.  Accordingly,  the  claims  of  Nation  over  Indi 
vidual,  have  been  stretched  to  a  tension  beyond  common  sense, 
chiefly  to  justify  the  claims  of  Nations  on  their  citizens,  for  war- 


222  BK-  IIL    NATIOX.    i.  i. 

services  and  for  war-taxes,  and  for  the  forcible  collection  of  ex 
cessive  internal  taxes  even  in  time  of  peace.  In  fact,  nearly  all 
the  old  despotic  notions  about  the  divine  right  of  kings,  have 
passed  down  into  modern  Society,  transmigrated  into  the  idea  of 
the  divine  and  UNLIMITED  right  of  Nation ;  together  with  abso 
lution  from  all  sin  (in  advance) — or  even  the  other  royal  doc 
trine  transmigrated,  namely,  the  Nation  can  do  no  wrong.  In 
such  a  fog,  there  can  neither  be  a  true  Moral  Philosophy,  nor  a 
true  Theology. 

The  ready  susceptibility  of  the  usual  ideas  on  the  Law  of 
Nations,  to  higher  generalizations,  will  appear  also  from  the 
follo.wing  extract  from  Appletons'  Cyclopedia,  on  this  subject. 
"It  was  the  object  of  Grotius  to  show  that  Nations  are  gov 
erned  by  a  law  distinct  from  the  natural  law,  to  wit,  by  a  code 
or  body  of  rules,  founded  indeed  in  the  law  of  nature,  but  pro 
ceeding  immediately  from  universal  consent.  '  Those  right 
deductions/  he  says,  ( which  proceed  from  the  principles  of 
reason,  point  to  the  law  of  nature,  while  those  which  proceed 
from  common  consent,  proceed  from  the  law  of  Nations.'  Puf- 
fendorf  rejected  the  distinction  which  Grotius  had  drawn,  be 
tween  the  law  of  nature  and  the  law  of  Nations;  he  denied 
that  the  latter  was  founded  upon  express  consent,  but  considered 
it  merely  the  law  of  nature  applied  to  Nations."  Both  sides 
admitted,  that,  as  "aggregate  bodies  of  Individuals,  Nations 
must  be  in  some  degree  subject  to  the  law  of  nature,"  from 
which  we  may,  with  Wolf  and  Hobbes,  properly  maintain  "  that, 
in  their  collective  capacity,  Nations  acquire  a  new  character  and 
being,  different  from  that  of  the  Individuals  of  whom  they  are 
composed;  therefore  in  its  applications  to  societies  of  men,  the 
law  of  nature  must  undergo  some  changes  and  modifications, 
and  thus  is  derived  the  voluntary  law  of  Nations." 

Thus  do  these  writers  dimly  and  confusedly  anticipate  the 
idea  of  Nation  as  a  Great  Social  Unit ;  but  only  of  IT,  ISOLATED, 
and  not  as  one  of  several  Units.  But  modern  Science  is  disin 
tegrating  these  conglomerations,  and  out  of  them  we  may  hope  to 
see  differentiated,  three  different  degrees  and  grades  of  thought, 
and  three  different  branches  of  study,  namely ;  One,  of  the 
Nation  as  one  of  the  several  Units  of  Society :  The  Second, 
The  (higher  or  real)  Law  of  Nations,  that  is,  that  law  of  nature, 


EIGHTS  AS  ONE  OF  THE  SEVEN.  223 

which  consists  of  the  principles  which  every  civilized  Nation  is 
presupposed  to  hold  in  common,  and  to  be  applicable  to  affairs 
ivithin  as  well  as  outward  of  itself:  And  the  Third,  what  is 
now  called  Law  of  Nations ;  but  which  should  then  simply  be 
called  International  Law. 

CHAP.   II.      RIGHTS     OF    THE     NATION     IN     RELATION    TO    THE 
OTHER    ELEMENTS. 

§  1.  Eights  in  General. 

It  is  generally  admitted,  that  in  all  their  legitimate  organiza 
tions  Mankind  have,  in  their  collective  capacities,  rights  which 
they  do  not  possess  as  Individuals.  This  admission  seems  to 
be  an  indistinct  anticipation,  that  society  consists  of  a  plurality 
of  Units,  each  of  which  has  its  own  peculiar  rights.  But  un 
fortunately,  those  writers  who  have  taken  this  ground  in  regard 
to  Nations,  have  too  much  ignored  the  rights  of  citizens  as 
Individuals  and  as  Families,  and  of  the  other  Units.  These 
collective  rights  however,  may  be  analyzed  so  as  to  be  resolved 
into  only  two,  namely,  one,  the  right  of  many  rather  than  of  one 
person,  that  is  to  say,  the  right  of  numbers;  and  the  other, 
which  is  better, — the  right  of  peculiar  position  or  relation  of 
any  organization,  person,  or  locality, — which  has  claim  when 
there  is  no  alternative  resource  to  it,  for  the  maintenance  of  its 
rights  in  question,  in  any  particular  case^ 

Vattel,  as  quoted  and  referred  to  by  Twiss,  the  standard  Eng 
lish  author  on  the  Law  of  Nations,  (in  their  Chaps.  I.),  says : 
(§  4),  "Nations  being  composed  of  men  naturally  free  and  inde 
pendent,  and  who,  before  the  establishment  of  civil  societies, 
lived  together  in  the  state  of  nature, — Nations  or  sovereign 
states,  are  to  be  considered  as  so  many  free  persons,  living 
together  in  the  state  of  nature."  Again  (§  5)  "  Men  being  sub 
ject  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and  their  union  in  civil  society  not 
being  sufficient  to  free  them  from  the  obligation  of  observing 
these  laws,  since  by  this  union  they  do  not  cease  to  be  men ;  the 
entire  Nation,  whose  common  will  is  only  the  result  of  the 
united  wills  of  the  citizens,  remains  subject  to  the  laws  of  na 
ture,  and  is  obliged  to  respect  them,  in  all  its  proceedings.  And 
since  the  law  arises  from  the  obligation,  as  we  have  just  ob 
served  (§  3),  the  Nation  has  also  the  same  laws  that  nature  has 


224  BK-  IIL    NATION.    I.  ii. 

given  to  men,  for  the  performance  of  their  duty."  Again  (§10 
and  11):  "The  experience  of  communities  *  *  *  confirms 
what  the  instinct  of  the  Individual-man  suggests.  There  is 
accordingly,  in  human  nature,  a  tendency  towards  society,  and 
whenever  opportunity  presents  itself,  men  are  found  to  associate 
themselves  together,  for  the  purpose  of  mutually  aiding  and 
assisting  one  another.  There  thus  grow  up  spontaneously,  rela 
tions  of  natural  society  amongst  men.  The  law  of  this  natural 
society  is,  that  each  Individual"  [whether  person  or  Nation] 
"  should  do  for  the  others,  everything  which  their  welfare  re 
quires,  and  which  he  can  perform  without  neglecting  the  duty 
which  he  owes  to  himself  [or  itself]:  and  this  obligation  of 
natural  society  is  coextensive  with  the  human  race.  The  Uni 
versal  Society  of  the  human  race,  being  thus  an  institution  of 
nature,  all  men  are  bound  to  cultivate  it,  and  to  discharge  its 
duties :  and  they  cannot  release  themselves  from  that  obligation, 
by  any  convention  or  private  association."  Vattel  also  (§  10) 
says, — "  a  law  which  all  men  ought  to  observe,  in  order  to  live 
agreeably  to  their  nature,  and  in  conformity  to  the  views  of  their 
common  CREATOR."  Mr.  Twiss  omits  this  latter  part,  but  we 
are  happy  to  find  somebody  saying  something  about  the  rights 
of  the  CREATOR,  in  relation  to  National  duties  and  rights.  We 
are  also  happy  to  hear  about  human  race  and  human  nature,  in 
this  connection. 

What  Mulford  says  of  the  inviolability  of  the  Individual 
and  of  the  Nation,  is  equally  true  of  the  Family,  the  Precinct, 
and  of  all  the  other  Units  or  "  moral  personalities"  of  society. 
Thus,  p.  268,  he  says :  "  The  conception  which  defines  either 
the  Nation  or  the  Individual,  as  subordinate  and  secondary,  is, 
in  its  error,  the  postulate  of  an  inevitable  antagonism.  If 
either  be  held,  not  as  an  end  in  itself,  but  only  as  a  means 
having  the  other  for  an  end,  there  can  be  no  principle  of  unity, 
and  no  form  of  reconciliation."  And  we  affirm  that  the  same 
may  be  also  said  of  the  relation  of  the  Nation  to  the  Family 
and  to  the  Precinct,  and  to  Mankind  :  and  whether  to  the  Social 
Circle  or  not, — remains  to  be  investigated. 

Accordingly  however,  we  cheerfully  admit  the  same  rights  to 
the  Nation :'  so  that  every  Nation  has  a  right  to  modify  and 
limit  the  powers  of  the  Precincts  within  it,  so  far  as  called  for 


RIGHTS  AS   ONE   OF   THE   SEVEN.  225 

by  its  particular  genius  and  mission,  and  to  provide  against  the 
special  dangers  of  its  own  time  and  position ;  as  against  Turks, 
Barbarians,  Aristocracies,  Demagogeries  &c. 

Writers  generally,  and  Mulford  also,  include  among  the  spe 
cial  rights  of  the  Nation,  the  following:  (1)  "The  right  of 
self-preservation ;"  as  if  anything  whatever  could  exist,  without 
that  right;  and  (2)  "The  right  to  declare  war  and  conclude 
peace ;"  as  if  everything  that  had  a  right  to  defend  itself,  did 
not  also  have  that  right ;  and  (3)  "  The  right  to  form  INTER- 
national  relations  ;"  as  if  Individuals  did  not  have  the  right  to 
form  inter-individual  relations,  and  Families,  inter-family  rela 
tions,  &c.  •  and  (4)  "  The  right  to  coin  money ;"  as  if  the  manu 
facture  of  money  had  not  been  already  proved  by  Spencer  and 
Mill,  to  be  more  safely  bestowed  upon  Corporations,  than  aught 
otherwise ;  and  (5)  "  The  right  of  Eminent  Domain ;"  as  if 
Mankind  itself  had  not  superior  right  thereunto,  which  must 
some  day  be  re-established,  at  least  metaphysically  and  morally 
re-established. 

The  right  of  the  Nation  over  the  domain,  is  the  same  as  its 
right  over  persons,  namely,  a  restricted  one,  limited  in  principle 
by  the  rights  of  all  the  other  Units ;  and  limited  in  practice,  only 
by  the  rights  of  superior  powers  when  they  shall  normally  arise. 
When  the  question  comes  up,  of  division  of  a  Nation  into  two 
or  more  Nations,  the  subject  of  the  rights  of  isolated  or  singular 
Precincts,  has  nothing  particularly  to  do  with  it ;  neither  has  the 
question  of  Eminent  Domain.  The  question  of  Domain  is  in 
cluded,  as  a  minor  matter  in  that  of  subdivision  of  the  Nation, 
and  puts  to  rest  all  argumentation  based  upon  property  rights, 
just  as  a  legitimate  divorce  a  vinculo,  allows  not  the  usual  claims 
on  property,  arising  out  of  the  marriage  law,  nor  of  arguments 
upon  that  ground. 

As  was  said  in  our  Summary  Introduction:  every  Unit, 
whether  Individual,  Family,  Social  Circle,  Precinct,  Nation  or 
Mankind,  has  its  own  rights,  which  are  inalienable,  indefeasible, 
and  indivisible.  Therefore  in  general  we  may  say,  the  sover 
eignty  of  the  Nation  over  the  Precincts  within,  and  over  rela 
tionships  to  other  Nations  and  Mankind  outward,  is  LIMITED 

BOTH  BY  THE  ETERNAL  NATURE^  AND  BY  THE  INALIENABLE 
RIGHTS,  OF  THE  UNITS. 

15 


226  BK-  HI-      NATION.      I.  II. 

Nevertheless,  in  cases  of  conflict  of  authority,  or  of  differ 
ence  of  opinion  between  Precinct,  (or  other  lesser  unit,)  and 
Nation,  the  former  must  of  course  yield  to  the  latter.  For, 
although  in  principle  the  Units  are  equal, — Precinct,  and  so  on, 
to  Nation, — yet  in  doubtful  cases  the  practical  decision  must  be 
allowed  to  the  superior  power.  This  has  been  shown  in  the 
Introduction,  under  the  head  of  "Resemblances  to  Gravitation." 
Therefore  all  the  lower  ones  must  give  way  before  the  unions  of 
many  Nations,  whenever  such  unions  are  formed ;  but  still,  each 
retains  its  own  share  of  eternal  rights,  inalienable  and  indefeasi 
ble,  as  any  other  of  the  elements.  The  lesser  elements  can  not 
be  deprived  of  their  rights  avowedly  or  upon  principle,  but  only 
by  mistake,  or  by  the  necessities  of  arriving  at  definite  conclu 
sions.  The  case  is  somewhat  the  same  as  between  man  and  wife ; 
both  have  equal  rights ;  yet  as  there  must  be  somebody  to  decide 
in  doubtful  cases,  that  right  is  conceded  to  the  man,  but  only  to 
be  exercised  honestly  and  faithfully. 

Our  doctrine  as  to  the  Rights  of  a  Nation  may  be  summed  up 
thus : — the  sovereignty  of  the  Nation  consists,  as  to  Precincts, 
Corporations,  Individuals  and  Families,  not  in  superior  rights 
but  in  superior  power;  but  with  the  right  of  judging  in  doubt 
ful  cases  of  jurisdiction;  and  on  the  other  hand, — in  reference 
to  the  Unit  above  it,  namely,  Mankind,  the  Nation  has  only  its 
rights  as  one  of  the  Essential  Units, — all  being  subject  to  their 
peculiar  conditions  of  position  and  locality. 

These  peculiar  conditions  of  position  however,  are  sometimes 
very  important.  Thus,  a  few  miles  of  ocean  near  the  land  be 
longs  to  the  Nation,  not  to  the  adjacent  Precinct.  So  Mining 
Districts,  also  Large  Cities,  and  what  are  called  "  States"  (see 
Bk.  II.  Pt.  II.  Chaps.  XI.  and  XII.)  must  hold  a  part,  at  least, 
of  their  rights,  as  fiefs  of  the  Nation,  and  so  far  be  in  direct 
subjection  to  IT. 

The  Nation,  mainly,  is  the  power  of  negation  to  the  Precincts, 
just  as  Mankind  is  to  the  Nation.  Yet  the  Precinct  acts  on  all 
below  or  derivative  from  it,  just  as  much  positively  as  negatively. 
But  the  relation  of  these  is  sufficiently  treated  under  Precinct, 
and  need  not  be  enlarged  upon  now. 

The  rights  of  a  Nation  would  be  well  set  forth  by  Spencer's 
general  theory  of  government,  supposing  the  Nation  first  to  have 


RIGHTS   AS   ONE   OF  THE   SEVEN.  227 

been  subdivided  into  Precincts,  and  the  Precincts  to  have  had 
constitutionally  granted  to  them,  their  real  share  of  rights  as  set 
forth  in  our  theory  on  that  subject.  But  the  theory  of  the  do- 
nothing  and  no-power  of  government,  is  utterly  untenable  in  any 
small  government,  or  among  any  ordinary  set  of  men  living  in 
close  neighborhood.  And  the  theory  itself,  as  set  forth  by  him, 
exhibits  plainly  the  facts  of  its  origin  in  a  large  strong  and  con 
solidated  government  over  a  free  and  practical  people.  It  en 
deavors  to  maintain  the  consolidated  nature  of  government,  by 
entirely  denying  rights  and  duties  that  are  absolutely  essential  to 
every  small  or  immediate  local  government.  In  these  respects 
Spencer's  view  is  diametrically  opposite  to  Comte's :  so  that  each 
one's  theory  contains  a  large  amount  of  truth  and  wisdom,  when 
we  know  to  what  field  to  apply  it. 

Inasmuch  as  Precinct  is  a  Unit  of  society  as  truly  as  Nation, 
it  follows  that  "the  general  principles  of.  nationality  and  inter- 
nationality,  are  applicable  to  Precinct,  as  truly  as  tp  Nation,  but 
in  a  less  degree.  Hence,  the  reader,  in  going  through  this 
part  of  the  work,  is  requested  to  bear  that  relation  in  mind ;  and 
to  observe  that  we  are  pointing  out  principles  that  are  equally 
as  applicable  to  Precinct,  but  in  a  less  degree,  and  in  regard  to  a 
different  class  of  affairs.  Because  Precincts  bear  the  same  rela 
tionship  in  form  and  law,  to  the  Nation,  that  Nations  bear  in 
spirit  to  Mankind.  And  then  again,  the  Precinct,  being  the 
next  lower  Unit  to  Nation,  and  being  the  only  other  one  which 
is  Local,  and  being  with  it  also  fundamentally  a  political  Unit, 
— is  pre-eminently  the  type  and  guide  for  National  arguments 
and  National  ideas. 

The  rights  and  duties  of  the  Nation,  and  indeed  of  any  organ 
or  department  of  Civil  Government,  in  relation  to  the  Individ 
ual,  the  Family,  the  Social  Circle,  the  Precinct  and  the  Corpo 
ration,  are  better  considered  under  those  five  heads  respectively, 
than  in  this  place.  But  the  best  place  to  consider  them,  in  our 
classification,  is  under  our  head  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT,  in  the 
SYNTHETICS  ;  under  which  head,  controversies  between  Nation 
and  particular  Precincts  should  be  provided  for,  whilst  of  a 
peaceful  character.  Controversies  of  a  warlike  nature,  are  pro 
vided  for  under  Nation,  in  Birth  and  Size  of  Nations,  and  in 
Rebellions, — which  will  be  treated  presently.  The  relations  to 


228  BK-  IIL      NATION.      I.  II. 

Mankind  will  also  be  considered  presently;  next  the  general 
relations  of  one  Nation  to  another,  and  to  ITS  citizens,  namely, 
International  Law;  and  afterwards  the  Doctrine  of  Naturali 
zation. 

Some  countries  are  cursed  with  a  deficiency  of  nationality, 
and  some  with  an  excess  of  it.  Guizot,  (p.  309),  speaking 
of  Greek  Civilization,  says :  "  The  Greek  who  carried  the  in 
dividual  culture  of  man  to  so  high  a  pitch,  knew  not  how  to 
establish  the  social  relations  on  a  solid  basis,  nor  to  organize 
a  national  body,  nor  to  combine  the  peoples  subjected  to  his 
influence,  into  a  system  of  Nations  strongly  united  together.  I 
wish  for  no  other  proofs  than  that  terrible  Peloponnesian  war, — 
that  fratricidal  struggle,  from  which  dates  the  decline  of  Greece, 
and  the  lamentable  history  of  the  Empire  of  Alexander  and  his 
successors."  And  we  may  add,  that  what  distinguished  the 
Peloponnesian  war  from  the  domestic  war  in  the  United  States, 
was  not  only  the  length  of  time  of  the  former,  but  also  the  fact 
that  it  was  not  so  concluded  as  to  settle  any  great  principle,  nor 
to  establish  any  great  policy. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  sometimes  an  excess  of  nation 
ality.  Nationality  is  made  the  basis  and  instigation  of  most 
wars.  The  idea  constitutes  the  strongest  intrenchment  and  the 
highest  glorification,  for  the  hidden  selfishness  and  the  secret 
animosities  of  Mankind.  Under  its  sacred  veil,  as  also  under 
the  delusive  garb  of  fanatical  religions,  human  beings  have,  for 
ages,  turned  the  worst  passions  of  a  fallen  nature,  into  honorable 
and  worshipful  attributes.  The  time  we  hope  must  come,  when 
patriotism  as  usually  understood, — rallying  for  one's  country 
merely  because  it  is  one's  OWN  country, — will  be  accounted  with 
that  narrow-minded  selfishness,  that  rallies  for  section  or  party 
or  society  or  Family  or  even  person,  because  it  is  one's  own.  But 
the  time  has  not  yet  come.  It  cannot  come,  unless  on  conditions 
of  mutuality,  and  by  or  with  new  national  brotherhood- views 
and  feelings,  in  several  of  the  leading  Nations;  and  thus  make 
a  new  clause  in  international  law.  It  is  the  peculiar  function 
of  Christianity  to  cause  this  metaphysical  organ,  Patriotism,  to  be 
re-absorbed,  and  more  and  more  to  disappear  from  being  an 
exclusive  organ  of  nationality.  This  it  does,  partly  by  furnish 
ing  a  renewed  spirit  to  Individuals,  and  partly  by  diverting 


RIGHTS   AS   ONE    OF    THE    SEVEN.  229 

a  portion  of  the  vitality  of  patriotism,  to  other  elements,  say- 
to  Precincts,  Corporations,  and  Mankind. 

§  2.  Duties  of  Progress. 

Here;  just  between  the  general  rights  of  the  Nation,  in  regard 
to  all  the  other  elements  of  Social  Science, — and  the  special  and 
superior  rights  of  Mankind, — may  be  placed,  as  partaking  partly 
of  the  nature  of  both  of  those  departments, — the  present  topic, 
namely,  the  duties  of  a  Nation  to  progress;  and  especially  not  to 
retrograde :  for  these  are  duties  which  it  owes  alike  to  all  the 
Individuals,  Families,  and  other  internal  elements  which  it  con 
tains  ;  as  well  as  to  all  its  surrounding  and  related  Nations. 

For  instance.  If  any  serious  attempt  were  made  to  reinstate 
slavery  in  the  United  States,  it  would  arouse  a  universal  cry  of 
horror  throughout  the  civilized  world :  and  would  probably  soon 
lead  to  a  great  war ;  foreign  Nations  also  joining  in  it,  for  the 
sake  of  mingled -policy  and  humanity. 

The  interventions  of  civilized  Nations,  in  the  affairs  of  the  un 
civilized,  and  semi-civilized,  are  justifiable  rather  upon  grounds 
of  the  uncivilized  tending  to  retrogression,  than  upon  any  other 
grounds.  For,  when  the  less  civilized  ones  come  into  frequent 
intercourse  with  the  more  civilized,  the  former  lose  their  bar 
barian  virtues,  and  retrograde,  unless  they  adopt  our  higher  de 
velopments  and  thus  progress.  This  explains  the  European 
interventions  in  Asiatic  affairs,  as  of  Turkey,  China,  &c.,  and 
also  in  African  affairs.  The  justification  is,  their  aim  to  check 
slavery, — to  check  despotism,  now  being  used  chiefly  to  prop  up 
their  falling  religions, — and  to  check  their  general  retrogression 
towards  barbarism. 

These  also  are  the  real  reasons  which  justify  most  of  the  usual 
protectorates,  and  armed  interventions,  of  some  Nations,  in  favor 
of  others.  These  are  the  reasons  which  justify  the  protectorate 
of  Europe  over  Greece,  and  of  the  United  States  over  Mexico, 
and  over  various  other  American  states ;  namely  the  protectorate 
which  is  embodied  in  the  Monroe-doctrine. 

Very  different  justifications  are  of  course  generally  alleged, 
and  often  believed  in :  and  especially  often  is  alleged  the  old 
doctrine  about  "Balance  of  Power."  But  if  this  were  the 
chief  reason,  it  would  be  expressed  in  a  claim  to  force  all 
Nations  to  modify  themselves,  so  as  to  become  as  nearly  equal 


230  BK-  IIL    NATIOX.    I.  ii. 

in  size  and  strength,  as  human  Individuals,  or  Families  are, 
each  to  each.  The  demand  for  retaining  the  balance  of  power, 
when  there  is  NO  balance,  must  necessarily  mean  merely  a  de 
mand  that  no  one  shall  increase  itself,  or  its  influence :  but  that 
absurdity  has  never  been  attempted.  The  real  chief  reason, 
more  probably  has  been,  that  the  grasping  Nations  were  the 
physical  ones,  the  least  civilized  of  Europe,  and  were  tending  to 
retrogression,  and  to  forcing  that  retrogression  upon  other  Na 
tions.  In  regard  to  this  subject,  Wheaton  §  62,  says, — "  ques 
tions  of  the  greatest  difficulty  arise,  which  belong  rather  to  the 
Science  of  Politics  than  of  public  law," — (that  is,  they  belong 
especially  to  our  Department,  namely,  Social  Science).  And 
again,  §  63,  "Encroachment  *  *  *  overt  acts  *  *  *  ambitious 
purpose/7  &c.  "  Such  were  the  grounds  of  the  confederacies 
created,  and  the  wars  undertaken,  to  check  the  aggrandizement 
of  Spain,  and  the  house  of  Austria,  under  Charles  V.  and  his 
successors;"  But  everybody  knows  the  really  retrograde  moral 
and  religious  impetus,  which  was  the  most  active  and  most 
dreaded  element  of  those  wars.  Thus  again  Wheaton  §  63, 
says,  "  The  repeated  interference  of  Austria  and  Spain,  in  favor 
of  the  Catholic  faction  in  France,  Germany,  and  England;  and  of 
the  Protestant  powers  to  protect  their  persecuted  brethren  in  Ger 
many,  France,  and  the  Netherlands,  gave  a  peculiar  coloring  to  the 
political  transactions  of  the  age."  We  may  also  add,  that  the  same 
principles  underlaid  and  justified  Cromwell's  European  policy. 

But  it  is  not  hereby  assumed,  nor  is  it  necessary  to  prove,  that 
the  real  grounds  for  foreign  intervention,  were  always  justifiable, 
nor  always  consisted  of  sound  principles  in  Ethics,  or  in  Theol 
ogy.  All  that  is  necessary  to  assert  is,  that  the  peoples  believed 
them  so  to  be ;  or  thought  there  was  some  reasonable  probability 
that  they  did  so  consist.  For  instance,  referring  to  the  French 
revolution  of  '89 ;  Wheaton  §  64,  says,  "  The  successive  coali 
tions  formed  by  the  great  European  monarchies,  against  France, 
subsequent  to  her  first  revolution  in  1789,  were  avowedly  de 
signed  to  check  the  progress  of  her  REVOLUTIONARY  PRINCI 
PLES,  and  her  military  power."  And  we  add  that  there  would 
have  been  little  reason  to  fear  or  check  that  military  power,  had 
it  not  been  really  and  chiefly  animated  by  the  desire,  to  spread 
throughout  Europe,  those  revolutionary  principles,  which  out  of 


.RIGHTS   AS   ONE    OF   THE   SEVEN.  231 

France  and  at  that  time,  were  generally  believed  to  be  ruinous 
to  all  interested,  sovereigns  and  peoples  alike. 

And  so,  in  regard  to  the  British  Opium- War  in  China ;  and 
to  her  wars  in  India.  The  British  and  other  commercial  peoples 
thought,  that  the  progress  of  commerce  forbade  such  retrograde 
policies  as  China  and  India  were  constantly  inclined  to  follow. 
But  in  Japan,  and  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  elsewhere,  wjiere 
the  native  policy  has  been  persistently  progressive,  and  seeking 
to  catch  up  with  the  civilization  of  the  age,  no  wars  have  been 
inaugurated. 

Poland  was  partitioned,  really  because  it  had  an  active  tend 
ency  to  retrograde  towards  barbarism. 

Ireland  was  conquered  by,  and  has  still  to  be  retained  under 
special  control  by  England,  chiefly  because  it  had  and  still  has, 
the  same  retrogressive  tendency. 

Bismark's  policy,  although  subversive  of  the  old  talk  about 
"  Balance  of  Power/7  has  been  sustained  by  the  sympathies  of 
the  most  advanced  Nations  of  the  world ;  because  his  policy  is 
abreast  of  this  age  of  progress.  But  he  is  overdoing  the  central 
izing  work,  and  is  subverting  the  Precincts  of  which  Germany 
consists,  and  which  have  been  the  bulwark  of  freedom  and 
thought,  for  ages.  And  therein  lies  his  danger.  Yet  still  per- 

O         *  O  O  XT 

haps  those  who  have  a  nearer,  and  inside  view  of  the  threatening 
dangers,  may  know  that  his  policy  of  centralization  is  necessary 
temporarily.  "  And  necessity  knows  no  law." 

All  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  have  acquired  accessions  of 
territory  during  the  last  century,  at  times,  without  producing 
serious  objections,  or  war; — particularly  and  lately,  France, 
Italy,  Germany,  and  Russia.  The  great  war  against  Russia 
(about  Turkey),  was  partaken  in  only  by  England  and  France, 
and  by  them  chiefly  because  they  really  coveted  various  parts  of 
the  Turkish  dominions  for  themselves: — and  as  one  incidental 
reason,  because  those  dominions  contain  Palestine ;  for  the  old 
hankering  for  Palestine,  which  kept  up  the  great  Crusades  for 
several  centuries,  is  not  entirely  dead  yet.  Moreover  Russia 
baffles  England  in  India ;  and  is  so  much  greater  than  any  of 
the  other  powers,  that  they  naturally  may  have  special  fears 
from  her.  And  the  ruling  dynasty  in  France,  sometimes  en 
gages  in  foreign  war,  to  entertain  and  divert  her  people  at  home. 


232  BK- IIL    NATION,    i.  ii. 

But  no  Nation  has  ever  thought  of  warring  against  Russia 
merely  because  of  her  immensity,  although  one  fifteenth  of  the 
population  of  the  Earth :  nor  against  China,  for  that  reason, 
although  being  one  third  of  the  Earth's  population.  Russia, 
although  warlike,  is  progressive  and  emancipatory.  She  has 
neither  needed  a  great  war,  to  bring  her  to  her  senses;  nor  ex 
hibited  general  enormities  arousing  the  sympathies  of  the  civil 
ized  world  against  her.  She  also  allows  great  freedom  to  her 
Precincts.  But  the  time  may  come,  when  the  Nations  will  fear 
her:  yet  the  first  Napoleon's  prophecy  was  so  premature,  as  to 
be  almost  absurd :  for  he  thought  nothing  about  the  great  func 
tions  of  her  Precincts — because  Precincts  make  a  weak  govern 
ment  for  aggression ;  although  a  strong  one  for  defence. 

The  principles  elucidated  in  all  this  §  2,  ought  to  aid  in 
forming  a  right  idea  about  the  present  affairs  of  Spain.  Spain 
became  a  Republic,  wise,  peaceable,  not  disturbing  other  Na 
tions,  and  attending  well  to  her  own  affairs.  But  a  reaction  has 
come.  The  Republic  has  gone  down.  And  now  the  question  is, 
shall  the  thousands  of  Individuals  and  Families  and  Precincts,  of 
Spain,  who  have  learned  what  civil,  moral,  and  religious  liber 
ties  are,  be  forced  back  against  their  enlightened  consciences,  into 
a  darkness  and  servility  that  would  now  render  them  miserable? 

Rights  once  given  should  not  be  taken  away.  The  first  and 
eternally  right  plan,  therefore,  is  to  adopt  a  true  Precinct- 
system  ;  and  thus  to  allow  the  citizens  of  all  the  various  dif 
ferent  opinions,  religious  and  political,  to  arrange  themselves 
spontaneously,  into  the  political  and  religious  associations  that, 
they  conscientiously  believe  will  make  them  happy.  And  the 
Nation  itself  should  pay  the  expenses  of  their  removals,  thus 
made  necessary  by  its  own  changeable  policy.  But  if  the 
Nation  will  not  do  that ;  nor  even  allow  the  people  to  rearrange 
themselves  into  their  own  Precincts  at  their  own  expense  (which 
doubtless  they  would  only  be  too  glad  to  do), — then  somebody 
or  something  may  be  held  accountable  for  such  tyranny  and  op 
pression.  Shall  the  accountable  thing  be  held  to  be  the  Form  of 
the  Civil  Government ; — or  the  Religion  ? 

If  the  form  of  government  is  to  be  held  accountable,  then  all 
the  monarchies  of  Europe  are  interested,  and  have  right  to  inter 
vene,  in  some  manner,  to  rescue  their  own  form  of  government, 


RIGHTS  AS   ONE   OF   THE   SEVEN.  233 

from  such  disgrace.  If  the  religion  is  to  be  held  accountable, 
then  all  the  liberal  Catholics  of  the  world,  are  interested  to  rescue 
their  religion  from  such  disgrace :  and  the  unrelenting  Catholics, 
with  the  dark-age  spirit,  if  there  be  any  such  in  these  days,  and 
if  they  aid  and  encourage  such  unlimited  retrogression, — should 
be  held  morally  accountable ;  and  might  be  denied  what  would 
otherwise  be  their  religious  powers  in  other  countries.  How  can 
Catholics  ask  for  division  of  school  funds  in  Protestant  coun 
tries,  when  the  countries  of  their  own  faith,  drive  out  and  per 
secute  Protestants;  and  if,  as  by  our  supposition  above,  it  is  not 
the  Civil  Government  that  is  to  be  held  accountable,  but  only 
the  religion  ?  The  Catholic  church  is  a  world- wide  CORPORA 
TION,  and  as  such  can  be  held  accountable  for  its  doings,  when 
it  is  admitted  that  the  affairs  are  its  doings :  just  as  truly  as  any 
Nation  can  be  held  accountable. 

But  however  little  or  much  that  Corporation  is  to  be  held  ac 
countable  for  the  retrogressions  in  Spain,  that  does  not  exculpate 
the  Civil  Government  thereof:  because  that  is  the  Arm  of  power 
which  is  actually  doing  and  executing  all  this  mischief.  Gov 
ernments  therefore  have  a  right  to  urge  on  Spain,  the  establish 
ment  of  some  humane  relief:  and  first  of  all,  some  true  system 
of  Precincts,  as  may  be  most  according  to  her  own  peculiar 
nationality.  Or  does  the  right  of  other  Nations  to  intervene, 
consist  only  and  selfishly  in  the  measure  of  danger  which  they 
can  perceive  to  threaten  themselves,  by  or  from  the  reaction? 
The  smothered  cry  of  the  most  advanced  peoples  of  the  world, 
is,  that  the  reaction  and  retrogression  ought  to  be  limited  and 
restrained,  by  the  importunities,  the  protests,  the  non-intercourse, 
and  if  need  be,  by  the  arms  of  those  who  believe  in  war, — of  the 
free  peoples  of  the  world. 

The  only  other  alternative,  and  the  least  that  the  rights  of  the 
human  race,  Mankind,  or  human  nature,  can  demand,  is,  that 
Spain  should  allow  all  her  dissentient  citizens,  a  free  emigration, 
after  plenty  of  time  to  dispose  of  their  property ;  and  further 
more,  that  Spain  will  pay  the  expenses  of  their  migration,  and 
all  reasonable  charges  and  damages  for  the  injury  her  policy  is 
doing  to  them.  In  other  words,  the  least  that  can  be  demanded 
for  those  oppressed  by  a  Nation,  is  about  what  should  be  de 
manded  for  the  oppressed  of  a  Precinct ;  but  also  a  little  more ; 


234  BK-  IIL    NATION,   i.  11. 

namely,  damages,  because  an  emigration  entirely  from  one's  native 
country,  is  a  much  greater  damage,  injury,  and  unhappiness, 
than  merely  from  one's  Precinct. 

§  3.  Rights  in  Relation  to  Mankind. 

No  position  can  be  more  untenable,  than  the  claim  for  immu 
nity  of  individual  Nations,  which  some  writers  advocate.  If 
any  Nation,  abounding  in  coal  or  iron,  or  other  necessary  article; 
possessing  superabundance  of  wealth,  with  "interest"  at  very 
low  rates,  with  labor  unemployed  or  doubly  taxed;  leading  the 
fashions  of  the  world  with  extravagant  and  constant  fluctua 
tions,  so  that  nothing  but  swift  transportation  would  answer 
for  any  commodities, — if  any  such  Nation  should  arise  and  fall 
under  the  combined  control  of  its  shipping  and  mining  capital 
ists,  the  result  would  be  long  continued  and  fearful  waste  to  the 
world,  of  the  limited  commodities,  iron  and  coal.  At  the  same 
time,  the  iron-working  people  of  that  Nation,  owning  no  land, 
and  at  the  mercy  of  the  combination,  might  be  grossly  demoral 
ized  in  general,  and  finally  forced  to  emigrate  to  other  countries. 
In  such  a  case,  the  right  of  Mankind  to  intervene  cannot  be 
disputed, — if  they  know  not  better  than  by  war, — then  by  war, — 
if  they  know  better, — then  by  legislation,  and  discriminations, 
laid  directly  against  the  offending,  Nation,  its  trade,  its  literature 
and  its  emigration. 

Or,  again :  if  any  Nation  should  persist  in  maintaining  im 
mense  standing  armies,  after  all  other  Nations  wished  to  dis 
arm, — such  persistence  would  force  all  the  neighboring  Nations, 
either,  to  continue  to  maintain  all  their  armies  idly,  or  else  to 
discriminate  by  legislation,  and  perhaps  finally  to  use  their 
armies  once  for  all,  effectually,  on  the  warlike  nuisance  whose 
,  threatening  attitude  persisted  in  retarding  the  civilization  and 
peace  of  the  world. 

The  rights  which.  Nation  once  had  as  the  representative  of 
Mankind,  are  passing  away  to  empires  and  confederacies.  But 
these  latter  cannot,  according  to  our  theory,  be  permanent,  be 
cause  the  next  and  only  Unit  above  them  is  Mankind ;  nor  can 
they  eventuate  in  an  organization  of  Mankind  into  ONE  perma 
nent  government;  because  that  is  the  function  of  Jesus  Christ 
only,  for  His  visible  return  and  reign  oit  earth.  And  the  idea 
of  one  confederation  of  compulsory  government  for  all  Nations, 


EIGHTS   AS   ONE    OF   THE    SEVEN.  235 

previous  to  His  reign,  seems  to  us  even  more  chimerical  than 
the  idea  of  one  consolidated  church ;  because  the  church  is  an 
organ  of  only  one  class  of  interests  and  feelings,  but  Civil  Gov 
ernment  is  an  organ  of  all  classes  of  interests  and  feelings. 

It  was  a  bold  thought  of  Charles  Goepp  in  his  essay  headed 
"E  pluribus  unum," — that  this  United-States-Government 
would  one  day  embrace  all  the  Nations  of  the  earth.  This 
thought,  although  not  admissible  in  that  application,  is  well 
worth  considering  in  the  principle.  But  as  to  the  confederability 
of  all  the  world  in  one  representative  body,  IF  it  could  be 
shown  to  be  practicable,  it  would  do  something  toward  showing 
that  a  confederation  thereof  is  natural  and  probable.  And  from 
this  difficulty  we  may  infer  that  confederations  are  not  to  be 
permanent,  but  only  transitional  to  the  higher  Unity.  And 
there  might  be  a  number  of  world-wide  conventions  which 
would  represent  various  Corporations  for  various  interests ;  but 
hardly  any  one  Civil  Government  especially  for  Localities. 

Of  the  various  grades  of  government  possible,  the  following 
calculation  of  maximums  is  suggested.  Assuming,  as  we  have 
elsewhere  done,  that  2500  is  the  largest  number  of  persons  that 
can  properly  and  conveniently  assemble  for  the  performance  of 
political  functions,  whether  for  primary  voting,  or  for  represent 
ative  legislation ;  and  supposing  that  number  to  be  the  highest 
that  can  conveniently  do  the  primary  voting  in  a  Precinct  of 
thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  that  is  to  say,  supposing  twelve 
persons  to  each  voter,  then  we  would  have  the  following  series : — 

Precinct,  Population,       -     -     -     -     30,000 

Nation,       -------  75,000,000 

Third  Grade,  -     -     -     -     187,500,000,000 

Fourth  Grade,      -     -  486,750,000,000,000 

The  second  grade  here,  gives  the  highest  maximum  desirable 
for  any  Nation.  The  third  grade  here,  would  be  able  to  an 
swer  for  the  political  organization  or  confederation  of  the  whole 
Earth,  with  a  population  of  4J  Individuals  per  acre  of  the  land 
(exclusive  of  the  waters);  and  that  is  a  density  about  as  great- 
as  can  possibly  subsist  upon  it,  by  any  known  methods.  The 
fourth  grade  would  represent  a  population  of  11,000  per  acre,  or 
2  persons  of  the  present  size  to  a  square  yard,  of  land ;  that  is  to 
say,  only  just  room  for  all  to  lie  down  on. 


236  BK.  HI-    NATION.      I.  III. 

Any  Nation,  being  resolved  into  the  higher  kinds  of  political 
Corporations,  and  supposing  the  Corporations  within  the  Pre 
cincts,  to  be  transposable  into  four  uniform  and  homogeneous 
classes, — would  be  susceptible  of  four  times  the  population  above 
given,  namely  300  Million,  or  one-fourth  the  present  world ;  and 
the  Third  Grade  would  represent  a  population  of  18  to  the  acre. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  writers  think  that  an  assembly  ought 
not  to  consist  of  more  persons  than  can  meet  together  and  con 
verse,  without  straining  either  the  voice  in  speaking,  or  the  ear 
in  hearing ;  say  300  persons  each.  Then  the  grades  would  be 
thus.  First  grade  3600  population.  Second  grade  1,080,000. 
Third  grade  324,000,000.  Fourth  grade  97,200,000,000.  Thus 
the  fourth  grade  would  be  about  half  as  much  as  the  third  grade, 
on  the  first  named  supposition.  And  the  introduction  of  homo 
geneous  Corporations  would  proportionally  increase  the  possible 
numbers. 

CHAP.  III.     RIGHTS    IN   RELATION    TO   CONFEDERATIONS. 

§  1.  Right  to  form  Confederations. 

The  whole  subject  of  confederations  is  generally  placed  as  a 
part  of  international  law ;  but  the  position  most  of  it  occupies 
in  relation  to  our  Unit,  Mankind,  requires  us  to  locate  most 
of  it  here.  Nationality  is  the  only  elementary  civil  and  state 
power,  that  as  yet  has  represented,  or  can  represent  directly,  the 
interests  of  Mankind.  But,  up  to  this  time,  Nationality,  through 
international  law,  has  not  been  much  exercised  in  that  use,  be 
yond  the  matter  of  lessening  wars,  and  promoting  commerce  in 
physical  things.  The  true  representative  of  Mankind,  at  pres 
ent,  is  Confederation.  But  this  is  only  temporary,  and  transi 
tional  to  something  higher ;  moreover,  confederations  themselves 
are  not  permanent,  as  Nations  are,  nor  as  Mankind  (metaphys 
ically  speaking)  is  conceived  as  being. 

Confederations  between  Nations  may  be  defined  to  be,  the 
ASPIRATIONS  of  Mankind  toward  political  unity, — toward  one 
law  and  one  government.  And  international  law  is  the  legal 
expression  of  some  of  those  aspirations. 

What  directly  and  practically  distinguishes  a  Nation,  (even 
when  organized  into  military  Precincts  or  feudal  system),  from 
a  Confederation,  is,  that  the  latter  acts  on  the  people  only 


RELATIONS   TO  'CONFEDERATIONS.  237 

THROUGH  its  constituent  local  parts,  namely,  through  the  Na 
tions, — but  the  Nation  acts  on  its  people  directly,  as  truly  as  the 
Precincts  do,  because  it  is  an  instinctive  Unit  as  well  as  they. 

A  combination  of  two  or  more  Nations  into  one,  with  the 
INTENTION  or  desire  of  being  PERMANENT,  constitutes  a  con 
federacy  (or  confederation) :  and  if  the  confederacy  is  to  be  gov 
erned  by  a  hereditary  monarch,  it  is  called  an  Empire.  Mr. 
Mulford  (in  "  The  Nation,")  regards  a  confederacy  as  consisting 
of  a  union  between  "commonwealths"  [or  Precincts]  only;  ig 
noring  the  fact  that  a  confederacy  is  based  upon  the  assumption 
that  its  component  commonwealths  are  independent  states,  and 
therefore  are  self-dependent  Nations,  in  principle;  and  it  ex 
pressly  disavows  the  idea  of  the  confederacy  itself  being  the 
Nation.  Confederacies  therefore  commit  the  equally  great  mis 
take,  of  establishing  a  theory  of  government  upon  one  unit  or 
one  integer  only,  and  ignoring  an  equally  important  unit.  We 
have  the  Confederacy  ignoring  Nation,  and  Mulford  ignoring 
Precinct.  Mr.  Mulford  also  argues  against  the  right  of  real 
Nations  to  form  confederacies.  This  he  argues  by  confusing 
confederacy  with  Empire,  and  arguing  against  the  advantages 
of  unions,  because  the  government  of  such  unions  has  usually 
been  hereditary  and  vested  in  an  Emperor. 

Our  argument  here  however,  does  not  fully  discuss  the  merits 
of  the  question,  of  the  right  or  expediency  of  Nations  to  form 
confederacies;  but  merely  discusses  that  confusion  which  only 
conceives  of  a  union  between  Nations,  as  an  Empire,  overlook 
ing  the  possibility  of  such  a  union  being  a  popular  and  elective 
government.  And  it  is  the  confusion  consequent  therefrom,  of 
applying  the  word  confederacy,  to  a  union  between  Precincts 
only,  to  which  we  are  now  objecting.  Mr.  Mulford's  book  is  a 
lamentable  instance  of  great  principles  of  eternal  truth,  being 
deflected,  in  order  to  apply  to  the  narrow  exigencies  of  some  one 
good  cause — of  a  good  cause,  namely,  the  nationality  of  the 
United  States,  upholding  it  by  fearful  perversions  of  funda 
mental  social  principles.  Although  his  book  is  in  many  respects, 
a  highly  valuable  one,  and  has  done  good  service  in  a  good  cause. 

Mr.  Mulford  has  an  indistinct  apprehension  of  the  growth  of 
the  international  confederative  power,  when  (p.  254)  he  says  : 
"  Since  the  Nation  has  its  vocation  in  a  moral  order,  and  its  end 


238  BK-  IIL    NATION.    I.  in. 

in  the  realization  of  the  destination  of  humanity  in  history;  the 
Nations  exist  in  an  international  relation,  which  has  for  its  con 
dition  a  moral  relation ;  and  the  system  of  international  laws  is 
definitive  of  the  moral  order  in  which  these  relations  come  forth. 
The  Nations,  in  the  attainment  of  their  necessary  end,  are  con 
stituted  in  a  moral  order.  They  cannot  therefore,  in  the  de 
velopment  of  national  life,  remain  in  isolation  and  indifference. 
*  *  *  As  the  relations  consist  in  the  moral  order  of  history,  their 
ampler  expression  will  come,  in  the  higher  realization  of  the 
being  of  the  Nation,  in  the  moral  order  of  history.  *  *  * 
And  as  the  Nation  advances  in  the  realization  of  its  being,  the 
science  which  has  for  its  province  the  definition  of  the  law  of 
international  relations,  will  become  constantly  the  expression  of 
a  development  in  wider  and  more  varied  relations." 

Again,  (p.  256),  he  says :  "  In  the  realization  of  the  being  of 
the  Nation  in  history,  there  will  be  manifest  among  Nations  a 
deeper  relationship.  *  *  *  It  is  therefore  no  dream,  but  the 
coming  of  a  new  life,  which  holds  the  prophecy  and  the  realiza 
tion  of  the  fraternity  of  Nations.  In  the  development  of  his 
tory,  this  relation  is  becoming  more  perfectly  apprehended ;  and 
as  Mankind  recognizes  more  deeply  the  universal  fatherhood, 
there  is  manifested  in  the  Christendom  of  Nations,  the  Family 
of  Nations." 

Some  of  the  foregoing  phrases,  as,  "vocation  in  a  moral  order," 
"  moral  order  of  history,"  "  attainment  of  their  necessary  end," 
"  expression  of  development,"  "  fraternity  of  Nations,"  "  Family 
of  Nations,"  are  pretty  much  all  we  could  ask  either  for  Nations, 
or  for  Precincts;  and  show  the  common  or  similar  relations 
between  them ;  and  that  the  same  may  be  represented  in  inter 
national  law,  as  we  said  under  Precinct. 

The  true  doctrine  is,  that  the  right  of  Nations  to  form  moral 
and  useful  confederacies,  is  as  eternal  as  the  right  of  Individuals 
to  enter  into  partnerships ;  but  the  confederacies  themselves 
are  not  eternal  in  their  nature ;  for,  if  they  were  permanent  in 
their  nature,  and  permanently  voluntary,  they  would  cease  to  be 
called  confederacies,  but  would  really  be  Nations,  and  be  called  so. 
Because  Confederations,  Leagues  and  Empires,  bear  the  same 
relation  to  the  particular  Nations  of  which  they  consist,  as  the 
Amalgams  of  neighboring  Precincts,  bear  to  the  particular  Pre- 


EELATIONS  TO  CONFEDERATIONS.  239 

cincts  which  compose  them.  The  principles  of  this  relation  are 
treated  under  the  head  of  Precinct.  But  Nations  cannot  be 
admitted  to  be  capable  of  forming  themselves  into  Corporations, 
nor  vice-versa;  because  they  are  not  elements  of  the  Tribe- 
Principle. 

By  the  term  confederacies  here,  we  of  course  understand,  not 
confederacies  between  "  States"  or  parts  of  a  Nation,  but  between 
separate  Nations.  And  our  American  states  are  shown  by  us, 
under  Precinct,  to  be  only  a  kind  of  higher  Corporations,  with 
double  charters, — one,  from  the  Precincts  of  which  they  are 
composed,  and  the  other  from  the  Nation. 

§  2.    Uses  of  Confederations. 

Nothing  but  confederation  between  the  common  sized  Nations, 
can  be  any  balance  at  all  against  the  rising  power  of  the  empires. 
There  is  the  Chinese  Empire,  containing  J  of  the  population  of 
the  globe ;  and  there  is  the  Russian  Empire,  containing  nearly  TV 
of  the  population,  and  y  of  the  land  of  the  globe.  The  power 
of  such  Nations,  sometime  will  and  must  be  felt  disproportion 
ately  pre-eminent  over  all  others,  taken  singly,  or  connected  by 
only  temporary  and  fluctuating  combinations. 

The  trouble  in  empires,  confederacies,  and  "unions"  of  dif 
ferent  Nations,  is,  the  attempt  to  make  the  fundamental  constitu 
tions  of  their  parts,  that  is  Nations,  uniform.  But,  as  Humboldt 
in  his  latest  days  said, — "  to  elevate  the  constitution  of  one  Nation 
to  the  rank  of  an  ideal,  is  to  ignore  the  necessary  historical  modi 
fications,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  to  call  in  question  the  impor 
tance  of  the  peculiar  development  of  every  nationality.  The 
English  constitution  especially,  with  all  the  conspicuous  elements 
of  freedom,  which  it  may  embody,  is  still  essentially  an  insular, 
oceanic  product,  which  can  be  only  partially  imitated  by  the 
Continental  States,  which  are  rather  of  volcanic  origin." 

One  of  the  principal  wants  of  modern  times,  is  an  interna 
tional  congress  for  the  great  and  especial  purpose  of  preserving  the 
peace  of  Nations,  and  also  for  marine  law,  and  for  international 
affairs  not  otherwise  agreed  upon  between  any  particular  Nations. 

The  balance-of-power  theory,  was  not  anything  better  than  an 
exhibition  of  instinctive  fear  against  changes  that  necessarily  are 
always  being  made,  and  so,  was  only  a  promoter  of  war.  But 
it  answered  a  temporary  purpose,  as  an  excuse,  until  men  could 


240  BK-  IIL    NATION,    i  m 

see  a  better,  for  refraining  from  religious  waie,,  Aiid  as  a  Jefence 
against  wars  for  increase  of  territory.  Yet  ii  could  *iot  con 
tinue.  But  now,  by  constituting  a  world's  congifcris,  or  one 
special  organ  for  this  one  function  alone,  we  reach  A  higher  step 
in  living  civilization,  and  insure  its  greater  success.  As  such  a 
congress  would  depend,  for  the  execution  of  its  decisions,  partly 
on  their  moral  effect,  all  sagacity  should  be  employed  for  its 
constitution.  This  sagacity  will  exhibit  itself  in  relying,  not 
on  the  form  of  selection,  but  on  securing  a  fair  representation 
of  the  real  and  actual  powers  of  the  world,  or  of  its  leading 
Nations,  at  the  time.  But  it  need  not  depend  only  on  its  moral 
power,  nor  even  chiefly  thereon,  but  may  easily  find  a  ready 
method  for  the  enforcement  of  its  decisions,  without  war.  Decla 
ration  of  partial  or  complete  non-intercourse  with  those  Nations 
who  would  actually  resort  to  war,  instead  of  submit  to  the 
congress's  decisions,  would  soon  bring  the  offenders  to  terms. 
This  is  the  method  which  the  congress  of  the  United  States  so 
successfully  used,  instead  of  war,  to  bring  Rhode  Island  into  the 
Union,  at  the  adoption  of  the  constitution.  In  fact,  non-inter 
course  is  the  usual  resort  of  educated  and  refined  society,  towards 
bullies  and  fighters.  We  find  it  successful  in  Precinct  and  in 
Corporation  government,  as  well  as  in  that  of  Individuals. 

As  to  the  question  whether  such  a  congress  ought  to  be  per 
manent,  intermittent,  or  remittent, — whether  it  ought  to  abide 
always  in  session,  or  only  at  intervals ;  and  if  the  latter,  whether 
the  intervals  should  be  regular;  or  whether  it  ought  to  be  as 
sembled  only  upon  requisite  occasions, — these  are  questions  not 
essential  to  be  settled  at  the  first. 

Perhaps  still  another  plan  might  be  employed  for  some  pur 
poses,  namely,  a  st  nding  committee  to  act  in  the  interim  of  the 
sessions,  with  some  limited  powers,  and  especially  the  power  of 
convening  the  congress  upon  requisite  occasions.  For,  of  course 
it  would  not  be  safe  to  entrust  the  decisions  of  disputed  interna 
tional  questions  for  irrimediate  action,  to  any  ordinary  committee 
of  such  a  congress.  Such  a  standing  committee  with  limited 
powers,  is  a  constituent  of  some  of  the  most  perfectly  organized 
churches.  And  in  this  matter  we  see  another  instance  where 
the  world  might  learn  from  the  churches,  even  as  to  mere  forms 
of  government. 


CONTIGUITY,  PHYSICAL   AND   METAPHYSICAL.  241 

CHAP.   IV.    CONTIGUITY,   PHYSICAL   AND   METAPHYSICAL. 

The  intercourse  between  Nations  must  vary  according  to  their 
many  essential  differences.  The  greater  difference  which  distance 
ought  to  make,  is  evident  in  this,  that  a  Nation  is  bound  to  pre 
vent,  and  may  be  held  responsible  for,  incursions  made  from  the 
borders  of  its  own  territory,  into  a  foreign  one  immediately 
adjoining:  but  as  to  miscellaneous  expeditions  against  distant 
countries,  no  Nation  can  be  expected  to  do  any  thing  more, 
than  merely  to  use  reasonable  endeavors  to  prevent  them.  "  Love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself"  applies  to  Nations  as  well  as  to  Indi 
viduals. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted,  that  distance,  either  as  to  space  or 
as  to  civilization,  requires  a  different  set  of  international  laws 
for  persons  nearest,  than  for  those  farthest  off;  just  as  our  theory 
of  Precincts  has  special  regulations  for  those  Precincts  that  are 
immediately  contiguous.  But  such  differences  of  international 
law,  could  only  be  made  by  treaties;  and  such  treaties,  oft  re 
peated  and  long  continued,  would  naturally  become  leagues,  and 
these  in  time,  confederations,  especially  where  the  Nations  were 
contiguous. 

Nations,  as  well  as  Precincts,  tend  ultimately  to  form  each  its 
own  particular  character;  and  LIKES  flock  together, — "likes" 
that  is,  inward  resemblances,  although  perhaps  outward  con 
trasts. 

As  it  is  the  tendency,  that  all  the  persons  of  a  Family  should 
gradually  become  assimilated,  and  like  to  each  other,  so  also  all 
the  Individuals  and  Families  of  any  society,  are  tending  to 
become  alike.  So  also,  all  the  Individuals,  Families  and  com 
panies  of  a  Nation,  have  a  tendency  to  become  more  alike, — 
Individual  to  Individual,  Corporation  to  Corporation,  and  Pre 
cinct  to  Precinct.  Even  the  social  sets  which  are  organized 
purposely  to  express  differences,  gradually  take  the  same  out 
ward  resemblances  of  customs,  &c.,  as  far  as  means  will  permit. 
Furthermore,  all  the  Nations  of  the  world  having  commerce 
and  intercourse,  also  are  tending  to  resemblance  or  uniformity 
in  their  outward  forms. 

Through  all  this  outward  uniformity,  we  find  that  the  strongei 
law,  is  an  inward  law,  that  likes  flock  together  with  like — that 

16 


242  BK-  m-    NATION.    I.  v. 

Families  tend  to  express  one  spirit,  and  draw  together  those 
who  are  similar.  So  also  with  Precincts,  companies  and  social 
sets.  So  also  with  Nations;  and  in  the  t course  of  time,  and 
with  free  travel,  immigration  and  emigration, — this  segregation 
may  be  expected  to  continue,  until  all  the  communicating  Nations 
of  the  earth,  will  become  possessed  more  and  more  fully  and 
firmly,  each  of  its  own  peculiar  life  and  inward  character.  Thus 
it  is,  that  real  heterogeneity  develops  out  of  homogeneity,  as  time 
advances. 

In  ancient  times  and  among  barbarians,  the  special  national 
characteristics  were  formed  by  isolation  and  barbarism.  And  in 
modern  times,  AVC  see  each  Nation  forming  its  own  peculiar 
national  character,  by  the  very  opposite  means,  namely,  by  inter 
course  and  civilization.  In  ancient  times,  the  outward  circum 
stances  were  mostly  different,  but  the  inward  spirit  mostly  the 
same.  In  modern  times,  the  outward  circumstances, — all  those 
things  which  can  be  seen,  imitated  and  learned  by  rote,  or  by 
diagrams  and  models,  are  being  imitated;  and  the  Nations  are 
thus  becoming  alike.  But  in  the  inward  things  of  the  heart, 
Nations  as  well  as  companies,  social  sets  and  Individuals,  will 
become  more  and  more  unlike  some  others,  and  must  be  more 
and  more  attracted  to  those  with  whom  they  most  sympathize. 
In  some  Nations,  where  the  spirit  of  love  and  mutual  regard 
for  each  other's  rights,  exist,  much  happy  communism  may  de 
velop  ;  whilst  in  those  Nations, and  peoples  who  are  clamoring 
for  equality  and  fraternity, — violating  the  relative  duties  of 
station  ability  and  age,  and  puffing  themselves  up  with  pride 
and  self-will,  their  desired  communism  and  equality  will  not 
come;  but  instead  thereof,  all  the  vice  and  luxury  that  dis 
honest  wealth  can  buy,  after  honest  wealth  is  driven  away ;  and 
all  the  results  of  refined  enmities,  when  the  peace  men  and  the 
unimpeachable  citizens,  are  driven,  either  into  obscurity,  or 
into  foreign  lands.  The  example  of  France  is  a  warning  to 
humanity. 

CHAP.  V.     DEFINITION   OF   NATION. 

No  definition  of  the  Nation  can  be  accepted,  which  denies 
that  "  God  hath  made  of  one"  continuous  "  blood,"  at  least  many 
"Nations  of  men,"  (Acts  xvii.  26.)  But  some  writers  have 
carried  out  the  radicalness  of  the  idea  of  Nation,  to  the  extent  of 


DEFINITION   OF   NATION.  243 

/ 

supposing  that  nearly  all  of  the  many  great  Nations  of  Man 
kind,  are  indigenous,  spontaneous  developments,  from  the  regions 
they  inhabit;  without  allowing- for  the  facility  with  which  men 
change  their  abodes,  and  commingle  nationalities;  a  facility 
which  is  well  known  in  history,  as  well  as  on  reflection  might 
be  expected.  Even  if  we  admit  more  than  one  original  or  spon 
taneous  race,  still  under  no  supposable  theory,  can  there  be  ad 
mitted  to  be  more  than  three,  or  at  most  five,  such  original  or 
spontaneous  races. 

Let  us  give  here  (chiefly  from  Twiss,  vol.  i.  pp.  2  and  3),  a 
definition  of  a  Nation  (People,  or  State) — which  has  an  inter 
esting  history  attached  to  it.  Coming  from  Scipio  Africanus,  it 
is  first  quoted  by  Cicero  (De  Republica,  i.  25.)  This  work,  the 
"  De  Republica,"  was  lost  in  antiquity,  to  the  great  regret  of 
scholars  and  statesmen.  But  the  definition  therein,  of  a  State, 
was  preserved  and  transmitted  by  St.  Augustine,  in  his  great 
work,  "  The  City  of  God."  Indeed,  those  best  able  to  judge, 
(including  Cardinal  Mai,)  think  that  St.  Augustine  derived  his 
first  suggestions  for  his  "  City  of  God,"  from  reading  Cicero's 
"  De  Republics."  From  St.  Augustine,  Grotius  derived  the  defi 
nition  we  are  speaking  of. — And  now  at  last  Cardinal  Mai  has 
found  and  deciphered  from  an  old  Palimpsest,  a  large  part  of  the 
identical  old  Ciceronian  "  De  Republics ;"  and  among  the  saved 
fragments  of  which,  is  this  very  definition  we  are  now  to  give. 

Cicero  gives  it  thus  :  "  Therefore  said  Africanus,  Public  affairs 
are  the  affairs  of  the  People ;  but  not  every  collection  (coetus) 
of  men,  however  congregated,  (or  aggregated),  is  a  people ;  but 
the  collection  (coetus)  of  the  multitude,  associated  by  consent  of 
justice  (juris,  right,  or  law),  and  in  the  (communione)  communism 
(fellowship)  of  utility." 

St.  Augustine  adds  :  "  Therefore  surely,  where  that  righteous 
ness  or  right-ness  (justitia),  is  not,  there  the  collection  of  men  is 
not  associated  by  the  consent  of  justice  (juris,  right,  or  law),  nor 
in  the  (communione)  communism  (fellowship)  of  utility."  (City 
of  God,  xix.  21.) 

Grotius  gives  the  definition  thus  :  "  The  State  (civitas)  is  the 
complete  collection  (coetus)  of  free  men,  associated  for  the  sake 
of  enjoying  justice  (right  or  law),  (causa, — juris)  and  of  the 
common  utilitv." 


) 
/ 


244  BK-  in.    NATION,    i.  v. 

If  the  reader  does  not  like  the  writer's  translations,  as  above 
given,  he  can  refer  to  the  places  in  Twiss  or  elsewhere,  and 
translate  them  for  himself.  Observe  this  much,  however ;  as  to 
the  great  substance  of  the  ideas ;  that  Scipio,  Cicero,  and  St.  Au 
gustine,,  fully  coincide  in  their  representation  of  the  definition ; 
and  that  their  words  apply  equally  as  well  to  a  city,  or  a  Pre 
cinct,  or  even  to  a  Corporation,  as  to  a  Nation.  And  so  does 
Grotius's  civitas,  although  IT  is  usually  translated  State ;  and  was 
by  Grotius  applied  also  to  the  free  cities  and  small  Precinct- 
States  of  Europe.  One  of  Ainsworth's  definitions  of  civitas,  and 
his  first  one,  is,  "  Corporation."  But  of  course  in  the  later  Latin, 
civitas  usually  meant  state  or  city,  but  it  mattered  not  how  small 
the  state  was,  nor  whether  it  was  part  of  another  state,  or  of  an 
empire,  or  not:  and  the  small  ones  answer  to  o  ir  "Precinct;" 
and  the  large  ones,  to  our  idea  of  Nation. 

But,  let  us  resume  our  attempt  for  a  developed  definition  of 
Nation. 

Recognition  does  not  constitute  the  Nation.  Mulford,  agree 
ing  with  other  writers  on  the  Law  of  Nations  (pp.  252  and 
253),  well  says :  "  The  sovereignty  of  the  Nation  has  its  imme 
diate,"  (but  only  its  "  external)  manifestation,  in  the  recognition 
of  Nations.  It  is  the  moment  in  which  there  is  a  conscious  reali 
zation  of  the  historical  power  of  a  people;  and  each  (Nation) 
stands  toward  the  other,  in  a  recognized  sovereignty  of  the 
world.  *  *  *  The  Nation  recognizes  in  another,  that  which  it 
is  conscious  of  possessing  n  itself,  in  its  own  necessary  being. 
*  *  *  This  recognition  presumes  then,  respect  toward  the  Na 
tion  recognized  as  a  Nation.  It  must  concede  to  it  the  rights, 
which  in  its  own  necessary  existence  it  asserts  for  itself.  There 
is  the  application,  here,  of  the  fundamental  law  of  rights, — be 
a  per  son  j  and  respect  others  <vs  i  ersons.  This  law  is  implied  in 
the  being  of  the  Nation  as  a  moral  person ;  it  is  the  necessary 
postulate  of  rights  and  of  duties.  From  this,  then,  proceeds  the 
recognized  right  of  a  Nation,  to  determine  its  own  political  end ; 
the  right  to  (establish  its  own  political  form." 

But  "a  people  may  exist  with  a  manifest  unity  and  sover 
eignty,  and  with  entire  independence  and  freedom,  and  be  in 
reality  a  Nation ;  although  it  receive  no  recognition  from  other 
Nations.  Whether  it  be  in  reality  a  Nation,  is  to  be  determined 


DEFINITION   OF   NATION.  245 

only  by  its  content, —  *  *  *  but  its  recognition  depends  only 
upon  the  determination,  in  the  judgment  of  another,  whether  it 
be  a  Nation."  Here  then,  we  may  ask,  how  shall  we  determine 
just  how  much  a  Nation  separating  from  its  past,  shall  depend 
upon  the  recognition  of  that  past,  for  the  right  of  its  separate 
nationality  ? — for  its  right  "  to  be  a  person"  ? — And  when  doth 
arise  the  duty  of  that  past,  "to  respect  others  as  persons"  in 
such  a  case  ?  And  how  much  depends  on  present  qualifications 
alone  ? 

Mulford,  (p.  253)  well  gives  the  "  content"  of  a  Nation,  or 
that  by  which  its  nationality  is  to  be  determined,  as  follows, — 
"  the  internal  sovereignty  which  is  manifest  in  law  and  freedom ; 
and  the  external  sovereignty  which  is  manifest  in  independence 
and  self-subsistence."  Nevertheless,  the  latter  condition  is  too 
much  of  a  de  facto  and  not  enough  of  a  de  jure  one,  to  serve  as 
the  basis  of  nationality  in  our  Social  Science.  It  is  a  condition 
which  directly  leads  to  the  extremest  war.  For  the  existence 
of  a  "moral  personality"  we  must  seek  moral  conditions  of  jus 
tification  ;  we  must  find  those  conditions,  not  in  the  mere  fact 
of  the  birth,  much  less,  in  the  violence  of  it,  but  in  the  moral 
legitimacy  of  it.  We  speak  of  this  subsequently,  under  the 
heading  "  Birth  and  Size  of  Nations." 

Mulford,  (Index  to  Chap.  I.)  defining  the  "substance  of  the 
Nation,"  says — "  The  Nation  is  founded  in  the  nature  of  man, 
— is  a  relationship, — is  a  continuity, — is  an  organism, — is  a 
conscious  organism, — is  a  moral  organism, — is  a  moral  per 
sonality."  Furthermore,  (in  Index  to  Chap.  IV.)  he  says : 
"The  origin  of  the  Nation  is  of  Divine  foundation, — in  its 
moral  being  and  personality, — in  its  government, — in  its  au 
thority  and  powers, — in  the  facts  which  indicate  the  conscious 
ness  of  the  people, — in  the  facts  which  indicate  the  conscience 
of  the  people."  This  is  all  very  true  and  excellent,  but  is 
equally  true  of  the  Precinct,  and  of  the  church,  and  sometimes  ' 
of  other  Corporations  perhaps. 

Moreover,  Mulford  all  through,  confounds  State  with  Nation  ; 
and  this  he  does  deliberately ;  for,  he  says  in  his  Preface,  p. 
viii.:  "The  words  '  Nation'  and  '  State7  are  used  synonymously." 
And,  by  him,  "a  particular  State  in  the  United  States,  is  written 
'  State/  and  is  described  as  a  commonwealth ;  as,  the  common- 


246  BK-  IIL    NATION,    i.  v. 

wealth  of  Massachusetts  or  Virginia/'  &c.  He  thus  develops 
things  and  principles,  that  are  equally  as  repugnant  to  the 
natural  rights  of  Empires,  Confederations,  and  Republican 
Unions,  as  to  Precinots.  By  his  centralizing  theory,  even  the 
rights  of  the  Individual  and  of  Mankind  are  glossed  over,  and 
Social  Circle  is  not  thought  of;  and  no  basis  remains  but  Family 
and  Nation. 

Neither  Comte  nor  Mill,  identify  the  Nation  with  either  State 
or  Government,  but  carefully  avoid  even  the  appearance  of  doing 
so.  Comte's  word  usually  is  "  Society,"  sometimes  "  Govern 
ment."  Mill's  word  is  "  Government."  Yet  both  Comte  and 
Mill  overlook  the  distinct  rights  of  Neighborhoods,  as  such,  (i.e. 
Precincts.) 

Wheaton  does  not  commit  the  error  of  identifying  State  with 
Nation.  Wheaton  (§  17). thus  defines  the  State: — "Cicero,  and, 
after  him,  the  modern  public  jurists,  define  a  State  to  be  a  body 
political,  or  society  of  men,  united  together  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  their  mutual  safety  and  advantage,  by  their  combined 
strength.  This  definition  cannot  be  admitted  as  entirely  accu 
rate  and  complete,  unless  it  be  understood  with  the  following 
limitations  : — It  must  be  considered  as  excluding  (such)  Corpo 
rations,  public  or  private,  (as  are)  created  by  the  State  itself.  *  *  * 
Nor  can  the  name  State  be  properly  applied  to  voluntary  asso 
ciations  of  robbers  or  pirates,  the  outlaws  of  other  societies.  * 
A  State  is  also  distinguishable  from  an  unsettled  horde  of  wan 
dering  savages,  not  yet  formed  into  a  civil  society.  *  *  *  A  State 
is  also  distinguishable  from  a  Nation,  since  the  former  may  be 
composed  of  different  races  of  men,  all  subject  to  the  same  su 
preme  authority.  *  *  *  So,  also,  the  same  Nation  or  people  may 
be  subject  to  several  States,  as  is  the  case  with  the  Poles." 

Thus  Wheaton's  idea  evidently  is,  that  the  State  is  some- 
. times  above  the  Nation,  namely,  in  Empires  and  confederations, 
— that  in  all  other  cases,  legitimate  supremacy  is  what  constitutes 
nationality.  But  the  very  word  state,  "  status,"  standing,  implies 
something  having  the  quality  of  permanency,  and  therefore  can 
not  rightly  apply  to  confederacies. 

When  we  come  to  Corporation,  we  shall  find  that  IT  can  per 
form  many  of  the  functions  of  Nation,  as  well  as  that  element 
can,  and  some  of  them  better.  Yet  still,  there  will  always  re- 


REBELLIONS.  247 

main  some  of  the  functions  of  Nation,  that  are  not  performable 
by  any  other  element  than  itself.  And  this  is  true,  also,  of  all 
the  fundamental  elements  of  the  Analytics. 

In  our  opinion,  a  Nation  may  be  defined  to  be,  one  of  the 
spontaneous,  natural  Elements  or  Units  of  human  society;  a 
governmental  union  of  Individuals  and  Precincts,  possessing  or 
being  distinguished  by,  most,  if  not  quite  all  of  the  following 
characteristics.  (1)  One  Head  or  Government.  (2)  Having 
the  Government  continuous,  internally  and  historically,  either 
direct  or  revolutionary.  (3)  Being  apparently  the  development 
from  one  tribe,  by  similarity  of  Language,  Customs,  Religion, 
&c.:  yet  divided  into  several  or  many  tribes.  (4)  Inhabiting 
contiguous  Precincts  or  districts.  (5)  Having  .a  Special  Meta 
physical  organ  or  centre  of  attraction,  called  patriotism.  (6) 
Having  the  real  interests  of  all  the  parts,  to  consist  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  national  union.  (7)  Being  distinguished 
from  Confederacy  or  Empire,  by  having  had  a  spontaneous, 
instead  of  a  deliberative  origin.  (8)  Being  distinguished  from 
Precinct  or  "  State,"  by  superiority  or  sovereignty  over  the  other. 
(9)  Being  distinguished  from  Corporation,  by  having  had  an 
instinctive  origin,  and  by  necessarily  embracing  and  referring 
to  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  Locality. 

The  point  of  the  definition,  is,  that  whilst  every  Nation  will 
be  found  to  contain  NEARLY  ALL  of  the  characteristics  men 
tioned,  yet  many  Nations  will  be  found  to  lack  one  or  another 
of  them;  nevertheless  the  element  lacking  will  be  different  in 
almost  every  case.  This  form  of  definition,  we,  in  our  inward 
thinking,  often  adopt  in  the  higher  realms  of  thought :  because 
the  tout  ensemble  of  the  thing  defined,  remains  a  "constant"; 
yes,  so  constant  as  not  even  to  disappear  in  "differentiation." 

CHAP.  VI.     REBELLIONS. 

Whenever  the  forms  of  government  become  so  perverted,  that 
they  essentially  hinder  the  real  objects,  then  rebellion  becomes 
justifiable,  if  it  is  expedient.  If  the  rebels  have  no  reasonable 
ground  to  think  themselves  right,  and  if  they  are  really  re 
belling  for  immoral  or  criminal  purposes,  then  they  are  simply 
criminals  or  rioters.  But  if  the  rebels  think  they  have  reason 
able  grounds  for  their  rebellion,  then  they  should  be  treated  as 


248  BK-  IIL      NATION.      I.  VII. 

recognized  "  belligerents."  But  when  rebels  are  justly  entitled 
to  be  treated  as  belligerents,  then  arise  two  cases,  as  follows : 

Case  (1.)  If  the  rebellion  be  an  attempt  to  change  the  order 
of  the  government,  the  solution  of  its  justifiability  is  the  net 
average  resultant  of  two  questions,  namely,  the  question  of  the 
amount  of  grievances,  and  the  question  of  the  power  of  the  per 
sons  or  parties  aggrieved,  because  power  is  a  right  when  no 
higher  law  intervenes. 

Case  (2.)  If  the  rebellion  be  an  attempt  to  separate  from  the 
Nation,  then  the  two  questions  just  mentioned,  still  come  up, 
namely,  the  amount  of  the  grievance,  and  the  power  of  the  par 
ties  aggrieved :  but  other  questions  also  come  into  the  solution. 
There  is  the  necessity  for,  and  certainty  of,  the  birth  and  the 
arising  of  new  Nations,  during  all  the  course  of  time,  past, 
present  and  future :  there  is  the  probability  that  no  such  birth 
of  a  new  Nation  ever  will  take  place  upon  the  mere  abstract 
grounds  of  its  necessity,  without  having  some  grievance  as  the 
immediate  ground  of  it :  there  is  the  certainty  that  the  greater 
a  Nation  becomes,  the  less  willing  its  rulers  are  to  have  it 
severed,  and  the  greater  is  their  power  of  evil,  and  the  more 
severe  they  are  apt  to  be,  towards  dissenters  or  rebels  (except 
ing  the  severity  when  two  religious  parties  are  nearly  equally 
balanced,  and  are  determined  "  to  war  to  the  knife") :  then 
again,  there  is  the  certainty  that,  as  long  as  human  nature 
continues  sinful  and  imperfect,  Nations  cannot  happily  attain 
their  maximum  theoretical  size,  previous  to  division ;  charity 
must  make  allowances  for  the  imperfections  of  both  sides;  and 
neither  can  the  best  nor  the  most  competent  rulers  be  obtained, 
for  the  largest  possible  governments,  nor  can  peoples  be  made 
capable  of  submission  to  all,  that  charity  might  ask  them  to 
endure. 

CHAP.  VII.     BIRTH  AND   SIZE   OF   NATIONS. 

§  1.  In  General. 

Nations  are  begotten  by  three  processes :  one  is,  by  outgrowth 
from  one  Family  and  tribe ;  another  is,  by  the  mingling  to 
gether  of  elements  from  a  plurality  of  Nations ;  and  the  third 
is,  by  direct.separation  into  parts.  The  first  process  is  the  slow 
and  gradual  work  of  ages,  and  seems  to  have  been  nearly  con 
fined  to  antiquity.  The  second  process  has  occurred  only  in  a 


BIRTH   AND   SIZE   OF  NATIONS.  249 

few  cases,  the  principal  of  which  are,  the  ancient  English,  and 
the  modem  citizens  of  the  United  States.  The  third  process  is 
like  that  in  Zoology,  termed  by  the  physicists,  agamogenesis. 

Nations  in  a  living  progression  must,  ever  and  anon,  be  sub 
divided.  This  is  the  same  law  we  saw  operating  in  the  case  of 
Precincts,  which  are  the  chief  types  of  Nations.  The  ever 
increasing  population  of  the  world,  creates  the  necessity  in  both 
cases.  The  generation  of  all  new  Local  political  bodies,  must 
be  by  actual  spatial  subdivision. 

Just  as  in  the  case  of  Individual  beings,  (according  to  Spen 
cer),  we  have  two  kinds  of  generation,  gamogenesis  and  agamo 
genesis  ; — that,  in  which  fructification  takes  place  indirectly,  by 
means  of  germs  or  seed;  and  that,  in  which  there  is  mere 
growth  of  parts,  and  then  mere  visible  subdivision  of  parts. 
The  generation  of  Corporations  may  be  more  or  less  by  gamo 
genesis,  so  also  is  the  generation  of  special  organs,  but  the 
generation  of  the  new  geographical  bodies,  can  only  be  by  aga 
mogenesis.  Now,  while  both  kinds  of  generation  operate  against 
growth,  yet  the  agamogenesis  has  almost  an  indefinitely  greater 
degree  of  such  opposing  force,  than  gamogenesis.  (See  Spencer's 
Biology,  §§  334  to  346).  Hence  by  analogy  we  infer  the  neces 
sity  of  national  subdivision,  in  opposition  to  indefinite  growth. 
The  only  questions  are,  when  to  divide,  and  by  what  means. 
Any  person  who  is  acquainted  with  history  must  know,  that  the 
present  division  of  Nations  is  not  eternal, — that  in  times  back, 
there  were  fewer  Nations  than  now,  and  that  the  antithesis  be 
tween  Growth  and  Generation  has  been  confirmed  by  history; 
so  that  when  the  division  has  been  prevented  by  force,  the 
growth  has  been  restricted ;  and  when  the  growth  has  been  left 
free,  the  division  has  occurred.  The  only  questions  therefore 
are,  at  what  density  of  population  to  divide;  and  by  what 
means,  whether  peace  or  war.  (See  above,  and  Mulford, — that 
recognition  does  not  constitute  th  '  Nati  >  < . 

Our  problem  here  is  only  to  determine  the  maximum  size  of  a 
Nation,  taking  its  forms  of  government  and  all  its  relevant  con 
ditions,  all  of  the  most  favorable  i-.ind.  Hence,  every  item  Iqss 
favorable  than  the  ones  we  are  about  to  give,  will,  or  should, 
justify  subdivision  at  a  less  size  than  is  found  in  our  problem. 

The  maximum  size  of  a  legitimate  Nation,  depends  partly 


250  BK-  IIL      NATION.      I.  VII. 

upon  its  form  of  government,  and  partly  upon  the  average  popu 
lation  and  qualifications  of  suffrage  in  its  Precincts,  and  partly 
upon  local  conditions. 

§  2.   Conditions  of  Population  and  of  Politics. 

If  there  exist  any  form  of  popular  representation  in  a  Nation, 
not  consisting  of  the  higher  Corporations,  the  size  must  be 
limited  strictly  by  the  average  population  and  qualification  of 
suffrage  in  the  Precincts ;  because  each  Precinct  ought  to  be  en 
titled  to  send  one  representative,  at  least;  and  the  whole  number 
of  representatives  should  not  exceed  2500.  These  principles, 
applied,  will  give  a  population  of  from  twenty  to  one  hundred 
million  as  the  utmost  legitimate  limit  for  a  democratic  Nation, 
under  a  system  like  that  prevailing  at  present  in  the  United 
States,  or  elsewhere;  or  practicable  otherwise  than  by  suitable 
political  "  Corporations"  of  the  higher  kinds. 

What  science  points  to  in  general  formula,  may  be  expected 
certainly,  although  it  may  not  come  exactly  in  methods  that 
science  anticipates,  nor  for  this  or  that  particular  reason.  Hence, 
patriots  have  no  reason  to  suppose  they  can  avert  the  results,  by 
refusing  to  arrange  into  small  Precincts ;  because,  false  divisions 
and  false  "  State"  corporations  of  five  million,  and  all  other  un 
natural  methods,  only  hasten  the  evil  results,  through  metaphys 
ical  or  moral  causes,  the  exact  forms  of  which  of  course  cannot 
be  foreknown.  And  social  science  has  no  ability  to  look  into  the 
FAB  distant  ages  beyond,  to  inquire  if  any  other  subdivisions 
may  become  necessary ;  because,  as  said  in  the  Introduction 
and  elsewhere,  the  science  of  society  can  never  be  very  far  in 
advance  of  society  itself.  And  ne\v  subdivisions  would  bring 
their  own  evils,  which  only  the  science  of  their  times  can  treat. 

The  only  practicable  method  the  writer  can  see,  whereby  it  is 
possible  to  enable  Nations  to  hold  together,  with  larger  popula 
tions  than  are  mentioned  above,  is  the  adoption  of  some  of  the 
higher  Corporation-systems  proposed  under  that  head.  Possibly, 
Nations  might  grow  to  as  much  larger  size  than  the  foregoing 
representation  of  Precincts,  admits,  as  the  Precincts  were  divided 
into  political  Corporations  of  thue  higher  kinds,  UNIFORMLY; 
that  is  to  say,  the  same  number  of  Corporations,  and  on  the 
same  bases.  But  the  practicable  differentiation  of  such  Corpo 
rations,  seem  to  be  only  a  limited  few ;  consequently,  the  princi- 


BIRTH   AND   SIZE   OF   NATIONS.  251 

pie  can  only  be  expected  to  retard,  but  not  absolutely  prevent, 
national  subdivisions. 

§  3.   Conditions  of  Locality. 

Again,  the  size  of  Nations  depends  not  only  on  population, 
and  political  organization;  but  also  on  conditions  of  Locality; 
and  on  the  relation  of  population  and  organization  to  Locality. 
The  larger  the  total  Locality,  the  less  the  coherence  of  the  parts. 
Two  kinds  of  condition  of  Locality  enter  into  the  question. 
One,  is  the  total  space  included,  namely,  the  actual  number  of 
square  miles;  for  by  it,  the  number  of  diverse  interests  and  forms 
are  increased,  and  the  possibilities  of  population,  also.  Never 
theless,  the  other  condition  of  Locality  is  quite  as  important, 
namely,  the  linear  distances  of  the  extremes.  This  is  impor 
tant  both  for  military  and  for  civil  administration.  Whether 
a  country  be  1000  miles  long  and  4000.  wide,  or  whether  2000 
miles  in  each  direction,  makes  no  difference  in  the  total  content; 
but  it  makes  a  vast  difference  in  its  adhesiveness, — the  4000  miles 
linear  distance  giving  perhaps  only  one-tenth  the  cohesiveness. 

But  the  linear  condition  becomes  still  more  important,  when 
its  direction  of  latitude  or  longitude  is  brought  into  considera 
tion.  Because  sameness  of  latitude,  gives  sameness  of  all  the 
natural  productions,  and  therefore  produces  rivalry  in  all  the 
departments  of  industry.  But  linear  direction  along  lines  of 
longitude,  giving  differences  of  latitude, — so  long  as  they  are  on 
only  one  side  of  and  not  too  near  to  the  equator,  give  differences  of 
all  the  natural  productions.  These  tend  to  produce  the  harmony 
of  industry.  Incidentally  also,  they  produce  other  vastly  im 
portant  harmonies, — namely,  the  harmonies  arising  from  inter 
changes  for  health,  and  for  variety  in  study  and  in  pleasure. 
Isothermal  lines  have  nearly  the  same  effects  as  lines  of  latitude. 
•  §  4.  Applications  to  the  United  States. 

The  population  of  the  United  States  is  now  (A.D.  1875)  about 
forty  million,  and  doubling  in  about  17  years:  hence,  about  the 
year  1900,  the  population  will  probably  have  reached  its  utmost 
scientifically  legitimate  limits.  Even  the  present  forty  millions 
is  the  highest  limit,  with  our  present  political  arrangements,  and 
with  universal  male  suffrage  at  21  years  of  age.  Science  can 
give,  except  the  higher  political  Corporations,  only  two  alterna 
tives  here,  either1;  to  lessen  the  number  of  voters  by  increasing 


252  BK-  HI.      NATION.      I.  VII. 

the  age  or  c  ther  qualifications  required ;  or  to  prepare  to  divide 
the  country  amicably,  by  formation  of  a  new  Nation, — of  course 
not  between  North  and  South ;  dissimilar  climates ;  and  making 
territories  three  thousand  miles  long,  and  only  five  hundred 
broad, — but  between  East  and  West,  making  two,  averaging 
about  fifteen  hundred  long,  by  one  thousand  wide.  All  our 
extra  stimulation  to  immigration,  and  all  our  hurry  in  "  develop 
ing  the  resources  of  the  Great  West,"  are  tending  to  this  result. 
If  you  remove  the  seat  of  government  west  of,  or  even  nearly  to, 
the  Mississippi ;  then  when  the  division  came,  the  West  might 
claim  to  be  the  original  trunk,  and  charge  the  East  with  seceding  \ 
The  effort  of  the  Westerners  to  move  the  Capital  to  the  West, 
reminds  us  of  the  efforts  of  the  Southerners  to  capture  Washing 
ton.  The  tendency  of  increasing  the  numbers,  races,  classes  or 
sexes  that  vote,  is  obviously  in  the  same  direction. 

Although  increasing  the  age  required  for  suffrage,  may  retard 
the  division  for  a  generation  or  two,  and  our  "  Corporation"- 
system,  retard  it  much  longer;  nevertheless,  the  result  seems 
certain  to  come,  sooner  or  later.  Nor  is  it  to  be  denied  that  not 
only  the  good  methods  we  propose,  but  also  overwhelming  des 
potic  power  in  the  central  government,  might  for  a  time  continue 
to  hold  the  Union  FORCIBLY  together.  But  the  evils  of  such  a 
despotism  would  probably  be  far  greater  than  its  good. 

Improvement  in  public  and  private  morality  would  also  help 
us.  Because  there  is  no  doubt,  that  our  increase  of  population, 
and  our  increase  of  spread  in  distant  localities,  faster  than  Social 
Science  is  able  to  provide  for,  or  morality  to  purify, — are  the 
great  causes  of  our  Southern,  and  Indian  and  Mormon  wars, 
and  of  the  general  demoralization  both  private  and  official. 

These  truths  all  combine  to  prove,  that  those  ambitious  persons, 
who,  in  neglect  of  the  true  conditions,  are  working  so  hard  to 
"  develop  the  resources  of  the  Great  West,"  and  roll  a  tide  of 
immigration  thither,  are  "  cutting  their  own  throats,"  as  Union 
citizens,  and  hastening  the  very  dissolution  they  say  they  are 
endeavoring  to  prevent.  The  fear  of  vast  solitudes  of  forest 
and  plain,  seceding ! — What  an  idea  ! 

Some  writers  are  so  full  of  hunting  eternal  or  absolute  argu 
ments,  to  maintain  the  justice  of  our  late  war  against  the  Confed 
erates,  and  are  so  full  of  palaver  about  the  absolute  indivisibility 


EIRTH   AXD    SIZE    OF   NATIONS.  253 

of  a  Nation ;  that  they  seem  to  have  entirely  forgotten  that  less 
than  a  century  ago,  "  our  own  Nation"  was  only  a  province  of 
the  Nation  of  Great  Britain ! — and  that  we  have  acquired  a 
large  proportion  of  our  own  territories,  by  purchase  and  by  con 
quest  from  other  Nations.  And  such  writers  seem  to  have  no 
conception  of  the  difficulties  which  their  theories,  could  they  be 
believed,  might  produce,  to  Great  Britain's  giving  us  Jamaica,  or 
Canada;  or  Spain's  giving  us  Cuba;  and  so  on.  And  if  their 
views  are  sound,  neither  purchase  nor  treaties  nor  conquest,  could 
make  a  just  or  morally  obligatory  transfer  of  territory. 

Most  great  Nations  have  repeatedly  practiced  on  the  principle, 
of  dividing  their  own  or  other  Nations.  And  our  Nation  has 
repeatedly  acted  on  the  principle  that  other  Nations  have  a  right 
to  divide ;  why  then  should  not  our  national  constitution,  as  a 
matter  of  theory,  acknowledge  the  same  right?  Our  constitution 
grants  the  right  of  its  "States"  to  subdivide,  on  certain  condi 
tions;  and  can  it  be  that  the  superior  power  has  really  less  right 
than  the  inferior,  in  matters  for  which  it  is  the  legitimate  organ  f 
The  only  peaceable  method  at  present  provided,  is  an  alteration 
of  the  constitution  itself:  but  even  that  would  be  disputed  by 
the  advocates  of  certain  higher  laws  of  nationality.  True,  the 
time  is  far  away  yet  for  a  proper  division :  but  constitutions 
ought  to  look  far  ahead ;  and  one  of  the  good  ways  to  preserve 
a  union  peaceably,  is  to  make  a  separation  legally  possible,  and 
thus  let  men  feel  they  are  not  held  altogether  by  force.  When 
will  Mankind  learn,  that  not  in  religion  only,  but  in  all  the 
deeper  interests  and  affections,  force  is  not  the  best  reliance,  nor 
legal  inability  the  best  promoter  of  contentment?  And  our 
object  in  treating  this  subject,  is  to  promote  the  means  which 
will  really  tend  to  preserve  the  Union. 

§  5.  Provisions  for  Peaceful  Subdivision. 

The  principal  means  for  introducing  the  Christian  process  of 
subdividing  in  peace  order  and  friendship,  are,  firstly,  Social 
Science,  and  secondly,  written  constitutions. 

The  works  on  SOCIAL  SCIENCE  or  International  Law,  which 
omit  to  recognize  and  provide  for  the  necessity  of  the  peaceful 
subdivision  of  Nations, — are  as  far  behind  the  age's  wants  in 
Social  Science,  as  the  old  statesmen,  who  think  all  disputes  be 
tween  Nations  must  be  settled  by  the  sword,  are  behind  the  age's 


254  BK-  IIL      NATION.      I.  VII. 

wants  in  moral  and  religious  science.  The  scientific  provision 
for  such  subdivisions,  when  they  become  necessary,  is  one  of  the 
incidental  lessons  to  be  derived  from  our  idea  of  the  nature  and 
origin  of  Nation,  as  set  forth  in  the  previous  part  of  this  subject. 

The  remainder  of  the  topic  about  the  subdivision,  contains  no 
theoretical  difficulties,  but  only  the  practical  difficulty  and  "  un 
pleasantness"  of  blood  and  war.  Because,  if  subdivision  can 
only  be  accomplished  by  war,  then  the  doctrine  that  rebels  are 
to  be  treated  as  "belligerents,"  brings  them  always  under  the 
principles  of  international  law,  since  they  have  then  to  be 
considered  as  Nations  "pro  tern.,"  no  matter  how  unjust  or  un 
reasonable  their  attempt  at  separation  might  be. 

From  what  is  above  said,  it  is  inferable  that  the  usual  argu 
ments  are  unsound,  which,  against  subdivision,  plead  such  ideas 
as  the  Nation's  right  of  eminent  domain,  or  its  right  of  the  per 
son,  as  against  expatriation,  and  all  those  other  minor  kinds  of 
rights  usually  treated  under  international  law.  Such  pleas  are 
unsound, — because  they  all  belong  to  a  minor  department  of  the 
science ;  and  during  an  acknowledged  "  belligerent"  rebellion, 
are  all  held  also  in  suspense,  as  only  "pro  tern.";  and  then  are 
all  revoked  "per  se,"  by  the  success  of  a  revolution  having 
subdivision  for  its  object. 

These  views  seem  highly  proper  to  be  expressed  now,  because 
nothing  hinders  the  good  cause  of  our  national  Union  more 
than  specious  but  unsound  arguments  for  it, — and  especially, 
such  arguments  as  would  »go  to  show  that  this  or  any  other  in 
creasing  Nation,  must  continue  ETERNALLY  undivided. 

What  remains  for  science  to  accomplish,  is,  to  dispel  the  super 
stitions,  ghosts  and  hobgoblins,  about  the  subdivisions  of  Nations, 
and  to  provide  for  their  peaceable  accomplishment,  in  and  by  the 
recognized  constitution  of  each  Nation  respectively,  and  by  the 
doctrines  of  international  law  DE  JURE.  And  vice-versa: — And 
this  is  the  beauty  of  science.  It  is  a  good  rule,  "  it  works  both 
ways."  The  ascertainment,  beforehand,  of  the  true  principles 
and  grounds  of  the  subdivision  of  Nations,  preserves  society 
from  premature  and  unnecessary  divisions,  and  from  the  vain 
attempts  thereunto ;  and  places  such  unnecessary  divisions,  or 
the  vain  attempts  thereunto,  in  the  category  of  seditions,  to  be 
recognized  as  such  by  international  law,  and  all  the  world  over. 


PRELIMINARIES   OF   INTERNATIONAL  LAW.  255 

PART    II. 

INTERNATIONAL    LAW. 
CHAP.  I.     PRELIMINARIES   OF    INTERNATIONAL   LAW. 

§  1.   Classifications. 

Most  of  what  has  been  said  already,  on  the  Nation  as  a  Fun 
damental  Element,  is  applicable  to  this  part  of  the  subject,  but 
need  not  be  repeated ;  the  relations  to  Mankind,  particularly  so. 
And  these  latter  relations  will  be  further  considered,  when  we 
come  to  that  Element  of  Social  Science.  Corporations  also  have 
relations  to  the  subject : — because  their  full  benefits  cannot  be 
obtained  without  some  modifications  of  international  law :  and 
also  because  each  is  type  of  the  other  reciprocally ;  namely, 
Nation  is  type  of  Corporation,  and  Corporation  is  type  of  Na 
tion  ;  and  because  the  reciprocal  relations  of  Corporations,  under 
our  proposed  system,  would  be  necessarily  more  intimate,  and 
more  similar  to  international  relations,  than  even  our  inter-pre 
cinct  ones, — and  would  therefore  call  for  a  more  complete  devel 
opment  and  accurate  statement,  of  international  law,  as  type  for 
inter-corporation  law,  than  even  the  inter-precinct  relations  did. 
And  so  on  the  other  hand,  the  inter-corporation  law  would  throw 
light  upon,  and  develop  and  improve,  international  and  inter- 
precinct  law. 

This  our  Part  II.  of  Nation,  being  a  brief  treatment  of 
International  Law,  may  be  prefaced  by  saying,  that  since  it  was 
written,  Mr.  Field's  valuable  work  upon  the  subject  has  been 
published ;  and  to  it  the  reader  is  referred.  Let  us  introduce 
our  treatment  of  the  subject,  by  giving  the  classifications  and 
outlines,  from  three  long  established  works ;  the  first,  French  ; 
the  second,  English ;  the  third,  American,— namely,  VatteFs, 
Twiss's,  and  Wheaton's:  slightly  modifying  the  classifications 
however,  in  order  to  perspicuity  and  homogeneity.  For  the 
sake  of  these  modifications,  and  perhaps  also  for  the  sake  of 
saving  the  trouble  of  references;  the  reader  will  pardon  the 
selection  of  such  familiar  matter. 

Yattel's  work,  although  old,  is  perhaps  the  most  interesting 


256  BK-  IIL    NATION,    ii.  i. 

and  generally  instructive,  of  any  work  on  the  subject  extant. 
Although,  like  the  other  old  works,  it  contains  a  considerable 
amount  of  matter  which  belongs  to  other  and  very  different 
departments  of  Social  Science. 

Vattel  divides  the  subject,  about  as  follows.  (I.)  Prelimi 
naries. — (II.)  Nations  considered  in  themselves. — (III.-)  Na 
tions  considered  relatively  to  Other  Nations. — (IV.)  Of  War. — 
(V.)  Restoration  of  Peace  : — And  of  Embassies. 

(I.)  Preliminaries.  Idea  and  General  Principles  of  the  Law 
of  Nations. 

(II.)  Nations  considered  in  themselves.  State-Sovereignty  and 
its  modifications.  A  Nation's  duties  to  Itself.  The  constitution 
of  a  State.  The  Personal  sovereign.  The  succession  of  the 
sovereign.  Objects  of  a  good  government: — (1)  To  provide 
for  necessities ; — agriculture  ; — commerce  ; — highways  and  arti 
ficial  watercourses ; — money  and  exchange  : — (2)  Individual  and 
general  felicity; — piety  and  religion ;  justice  and  polity: — (3) 
Self-defence ; — national  glory ; — protection  from  or  submission  to 
other  Nations ; — vacant  countries.  Public  and  Private  Property. 
Alienation  of  Domain.  Rivers  and  Lakes.  The  Sea. 

(III.)  Nations  considered  relatively  to  other  Nations.  General 
duties  of  humanity.  Mutual  commerce.  Dignities  and  Equality 
of  Nations.  Preservation  of  their  security.  Mutual  justice. 
Regard  for  Individual  citizens.  The  Domain.  Rules  as  to 
Foreigners.  Changes  from  the  primitive  communism.  Modi 
fications  of  the  right  of  Domain.  Usu-caption  and  Prescrip 
tion.  Public  Treaties.  Other  Public  Agreements  and  Conven 
tions.  The  Faith  and  Obligation  of  Treaties.  Sureties  therefor. 
Interpretation  of  Treaties.  Termination  of  Disagreements. 

(IV.)  Of  War.  In  General.  Means  and  Officers  of  War. 
The  Just  Causes.  Declaration  of  War :  and  War  in  form. 
The  Enemy  and  his  property.  His  Allies  and  Subsidies.  Of 
Neutrality.  What  is  right  to  do  in  War.  Of  Unjust  War. 
The  Voluntary  Law  recognizes  both  parties  as  having  an  equally 
just  cause.  Acquisition  and  Conquest.  Individuals  in  time 
of  War.  Conventions  and  Agreements  in  time  of  War.  Civil 
War. 

(V.)  Restoration  of  Peace :  and  of  Embassies.  Peace  and  the 
obligations  thereto.  Treaties  of  Peace ; — Formation,  Observ- 


PRELIMINARIES   OF   INTERNATIONAL   LAW.  257 

ancc,  and  Breach  thereof.  Embassies,  Ministers,  and  Ambas 
sadors. 

Twiss's  works  divide  the  subject  as  follows : — 

(I.)  The  Rights  and  Duties  of  Nations  in  time  of  Peace. 
— And  (II.)  The  Rights  and  Duties  of  Nations  in .  time  of 
War. 

(I.)  The  Matters  of  Peace  are  divided  thus.  Nations  as  sub 
jects  of  Law.  Incidents  and  modifications  of  international  Life. 
National  State-systems  of  Christendom,  and  of  Mahometan- 
dom.  Sources  of  the  Law  of  Nations.  Right, — of  Self-preser 
vation  : — of  Acquisition  : — of  Possession  : — of  Jurisdiction : — of 
the  Sea : — of  Legation  : — of  Treaty. 

(II.)  The  Matters  of  War  are  divided  thus.  Settlement  of 
International  Disputes.  War  and  its  Characteristics.  Com 
mencement  of  War.  Rights  of  a  Belligerent  within  Enemy- 
territory.  Rights  of  a  Belligerent  on  the  High  Seas.  On 
Blockade.  On  Contraband  of  War.  On  the  Enemy-charac 
teristic.  On  Capture  and  its  Incidents.  Privateers.  Rights 
and  Duties  of  Neutral  Powers. 

Wheaton's  work  divides  the  subject  somewhat  as  follows  : — 

(I.)  Scope.— (II.)  Absolute  Rights.— (III.)  Relative  Rights. 

(I.)  The  Scope  comprises,  the  Definition,  Sources,  and  Sub 
jects  of  international  law.  The  Subjects  are  Nations,  and  Sov 
ereign  States;  which  are  described  as  two  different  classes  of 
Subjects. 

(II.)  The  Absolute  International  Rights,  comprise,  Self-Pres 
ervation  and  Independence ;  Legislation,  civil  and  criminal ; 
Equality;  and  Property.  And  Property  includes  both  the 
right  of  a  State  to  own  for  itself,  and  the  right  to  rule  over  the 
property  of  its  citizens. 

(III.)  The  Relative  Rights,  comprise  Legation ;  Negotiation ; 
War;  and  Peace.  And  War  may  be  considered,  either  as  to 
its  Immediate  consequences ;  or  as  to  ifo  Subsequent  ones ;  and, 
in  its  relations, ^to  Citizens, — to  Enemies, — and  to  Neutrals. 

Now,  regarding  the  various  works  of  writers  on  this  and  on 
other  departments  of  "  Law,"  and  considering  the  distinctions 
they  continually  draw,  in  the  courses  thereof,  as  well  as  the 
main  classifications  which  they  make, — we  find  that  the  sub 
ject  might  be  divided  in  all  the  following  several  different 

17 


258  BK-  IIL    NATION,    ii.  i. 

ways : — after  allowing,  in  all  cases,  some  one  head  for  General 
topics  not  classible  under  any  other.  Moreover,  perhaps  there 
might  be,  in  every  classification,  a  place  also  for  matters  whose 
position  was  doubtful ;  but  this  we  only  suggest.  We  might 
however  divide  into  : — 

Absolute,  and  Relative  rights  : — 

Public,  and  Private  rights  : — 

Rights  of  Persons, — Rights  of  Things  : — 

Natural,  and  Positive  Laws : — 

Principles  depending  on  Locality,  and  Principles  abstract 
from  Locality : — 

Internal,  and  External  Affairs: — 

Affairs  in  Peace,  and  Affairs  in  War. 

At  any  rate,  all  these  distinctions  ought  to  be  discussed,  and 
applied  to  the  subject,  in  the  GENERAL  Part  of  any  thorough 
work  on  it;  which  of  course,  our  little  article  makes  no  pre 
tension  whatever,  to  be. 

The  classification  we  have  adopted  for  the  present  essay,  is  as 
follows : — 

FIRST  :  The  Preliminaries  of  International  Law. 

SECOND  :  The  Most  General  International  Laws. 

THIRD  :  Affairs  in  Peace. 

FOURTH  :  Affairs  in  War. 

And  of  these  again,  we  make  only  a  few  brief  subdivisions, 
which  will  appear  in  their  proper  places ;  and  we  introduce,  in 
due  course,  some  of  the  antitheses  above  mentioned.  The  reader 
will  observe,  that  our  General  classification,  differs  from  all  the 
others,  principally  in  this,  that  ours  provides  one  general  head, 
for  all  such  matters  as  should  properly  be  gathered  together 
under  the  term,  Most  General  International  Laws.  The  minor 
differences  of  our  classification,  from  the  others,  can  only  be 
made  plain,  by  comparing  with  them,  our  heads,  as  they  will 
arise  in  the  course  of  our  treatment.  And  if  we  succeed  in 
selecting  the  most  salient  points  of  the  subject,  and  in  con 
densing  and  generalizing  them  sufficiently  and  clearly,  we  shall 
have  accomplished  the  utmost  that  we  can  hope  in  this  field, 
— a  field  which  is  not  peculiarly  ours,  and  has  been  so  ably  and 
diffusively  treated  by  many  writers. 

There  is  no  difficulty  in  applying  all  these  principles  of  classi- 


PRELIMINARIES   OF   INTERNATIONAL   LAW.  259 

fication,  except  War,  to  the  relations  between  Precincts  also. 
Indeed,  these  principles,  for  the  most  part,  and  dropping  for 
malities,  obviously  appertain  to  every  form  or  division  of  Local 
government,  from  Empires  down  to  townships,  each  to  each. 

In  other  places,  we  have  suggested  that  this  subject  ought  to 
be  considered  in  such  an  order,  and  by  the  consideration  of 
such  general  principles,  as  would  in  the  main,  apply  to  Inter- 
PRECINCT  relations,  and  also  to  Inter-Corporation  ones,  as  well 
as  International ;  and  at  the  same  time,  point  out  the  differences 
between  them.  Because,  much  of  what  we  propose  on  this  sub 
ject,  especially  what  relates  to  neigJihoring  Nations,  is  equally 
applicable  in  principle,  to  the  regulations  between  Precincts 
established  according  to  our  theory:  and  excepting  matters  of 
Locality,  is  also  equally  applicable  to  our  proposed  Govern 
mental  Corporations.  We  therefore  need  to  dwell  on  this  sub 
ject  of  international  law,  at  some  length ;  yet,  can  spare  but 
little  space  for  it,  except  so  far  as  it  is  connected  with  some  one 
or  other  of  our  special  theories  :  and,  rejecting  discussions  about 
official  persons,  or  diplomatic  or  other  FORMS  ;  rejecting  also,  tech 
nicalities,  "positive"  or  arbitrary  regulations,  and  other  details, 
aside  from  general  principles  more  interesting  to  the  general 
reader.  Indeed,  the  great  want  of  the  age,  in  regard  to  all 
"  law,"  is  improved  and  really  scientific  and  righteous  classifica 
tions, — namely,  real  GEXERAL-izations  and  SIMPLIFICATIONS. 
Because  vice,  error  and  stupidity,  hide  their  heads  behind 
"  musses,"  SPECIOUSNESS,  and  complication ;  and  so  the  genius 
under  words,  appears  as  if  it  was  the  genius  over  things.  But 
we  are,  in  this  PART,  seeking  for  such  very  general  principles, 
as  will  underlie  Inter-Precinct  and  Inter-Corporation  Law,  as 
well  as  International. 

§  2.  Foundations. 

The  real  foundations  of  the  law  of  Nations,  as  also  the 
foundations  of  all  laws,  are  threefold.  First,  moral  principles. 
Second,  arguments  of  utility.  Third,  consent ;  and  consent  in 
cludes  both  custom  and  compact.  But  when  apparent  differ 
ences  arise  between  these  three  principles,  they  can  only  be 
settled  by  recourse  to  a  higher  science  than  th's,  nimely,  by 
recourse  to  Moral  Philosophy.  But  in  our  social  science,  the 
arguments  that  may  be  based  merely  and  only  upon  consent,  are 


260  BK-  in-    NATION,    ii.  I. 

of  much  less  importance  than  those  based  upon  moral  princi 
ples,  or  those  upon  utility ;  because  one  of  the  very  objects  of 
our  science,  is  to  point  out  how  the  established  order  existing  by 
consent,  is  wrong ;  and  how  and  why  it  ought  to  be  improved ; 
yet  with  due  respect  to  the  transitional  duties.  And  when  the 
question  becomes  merely  one  between  Principle  and  Utility,  our 
theory  decides  to  use  Principle  as  the  highest  rule ;  Utility  as 
only  subservient  thereto.  But  it  decides  thus,  for  the  sake  of 
practical  certainty  and  truth,  whilst  at  the  same  time,  it  upholds 
the  idea  that  utility  is  always  coincident  with  moral  principle ; 
but  it  feels  itself  incapable  of  demonstrating  this  coincidence 
perfectly,  in  every  particular  case.  And  here  is  where  our  work 
differs  from  most  others,  namely,  in  making  comparatively  much 
.  less  account  of  argumentation  from  apparent  utility.  Our 
supreme  preference  for  principle  over  utilitarian  argumentation, 
receives  however,  an  indirect  corroboration,  by  the  fact,  that  all 
the  languages  of  Modern  Europe,  as  well  as  the  old  Latin,  do 
not  use  the  term  "Law  of  Nations/7  but  the  term  "  Right  of 
Nations,77  as  the  phrase  whereby  to  designate  international 
law. — (Wheaton,  §  12).  Mere  consent  in  international  law,  is 
no  more  than  common  law  or  statute  law  in  the  civil  municipal ; 
and  is  liable  to  be  improved  as  reason,  morality  and  progress 
require,  yet  always  with  due  regard  to  lawful  expectations  by 
usage. 

A  practical  difficulty  arises  here  however,  namely,  to  say  HOW 
the  law  of  Nations  is  to  be  revised  or  improved.  It  will  not  do 
to  hold  with  Puffendorf,  that  usage  is  of  little  account  against 
theoretical  argument;  neither  will  it  do  to  hold  with  some  others, 
that  special  treaties  are  the  only  methods  of  reforming  interna 
tional  law.  The  true  method  of  the  reform,  is,  always  to  have 
recourse  to  the  principles  involved,  but  yet  always  to  remember 
that  usage,  present  expectations,  and  past  contracts  and  arrange 
ments,  are  necessary  to  be  taken  into  the  account,  in  order  to 
judge  ivhat  is  the  voice  of  the  natural  principle  or  "natural 
law/7  in  the  case.  And  this  is  a  mode  of  thought,  that  most  of 
the  regularly  trained  "  legists77  seem  unable  to  indulge  in.  And 
yet,  only  thus  can  the  distinction  be  stated  truly,  between  "natu 
ral  law'7  and  the  law  of  Nations.  The  legists  study  how  to 
make  laws  unalterable  ar.d  unavoidable,  the  social  scientists 


PRELIMINARIES   OF   INTERNATIONAL   LAW.  261 

study  how  to  make  laws  progressive  and  improvable ;  and  since 
between  the  old  and  the  new,  there  always  is  a  degree  as  well  as 
a  time  of  transitional  confusion,  so  far  it  must  happen,  that  the 
social  scientists  come  indirectly  in  conflict  with  the  legists.  But 
this  conflict  is  proportionally  very  limited,  because  the  occasions 
and  objects  of  it,  form  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  aims  or  occu 
pations  of  either  class,  either  the  legists  or  the  social  scientists. 

The  following  classification  (which  is  a  different  one  from  the 
foregoing)  will,  perhaps,  do  something  towards  harmonizing  the 
different  classifications  that  others  have  made,  of  the  founda 
tions  of  International  law, — by  referring  them  to  their  different 
relations  to  Consent :  as  Express,  Presumed,  Moral  obligation 
to,  and  Pressure  to,  Consent. 

First.  Express  Consent.  This  embraces  treaties,  also  the 
manifestoes  of  one  Nation  to  another,  also  the  opinions  and  the 
decisions  of  the  officers  and  judges,  in  any  particular  Nations, 
who  have  to  meet  international  questions. 

Second.  Presumed  Consent,  in  other  words,  Tacit  Consent. 
This  includes  Custom,  or,  as  the  English  say,  long  usage ;  it  also 
includes  general  interest  or  general  convenience,  as  new  occasions 
arise  in  which  custom  has  nothing  to  say ;  it  also  includes  a  cer 
tain  high  degree  of  self-interest  or  convenience,  which  no  Nation 
could  be  expected  to  relinquish,  even  for  the  general  good,  with 
out  compensation. 

Third.  Moral  oflligation  to  consent..  This  constitutes  what  in 
our  theory,  are  called  the  claims  of  Mankind ;  so  that  we  should 
trace  arguments  upon  this  foundation,  directly  to  Mankind,  as 
one  of  the  original  and  eternal  Units.  This  division  of  inter 
national  law  includes,  what  others  call  the  law  of  nature  and 
justice;  it  also  includes  the  divine  law,  or  equity,  which  is  the 
amelioration  of  justice  by  kindness,  on  the  condition  of  mutual 
ity.  Both  of  these  lead  to  the  consideration  of  moral  progress, 
for  the  condition  of  mutuality  means  progress ;  and  the  opinions 
of  wljat  justice  and  equity  are,  vary  with  progress.  And  this 
subject  of  progress,  both  by  reversing  old  laws,  and  also  by  pre 
senting  entirely  new  circumstances,  constitutes  one  of  the  greatest 
practical  difficulties  of  international  statesmanship.  The  other 
greatest  difficulty,  and  that  which  seems  to  be  pushing  more  and 
more  for  settlement,  is  the  relation  of  the  highly  civilized  and 


262  BK-  IIL    NATION,    ii.  i. 

Christian  Nations,  to  the  heathen,  both  semi-civilized  and  bar 
barian. 

Fourth.  Pressure  to  consent.  This  part  of  the  subject  is  what 
other  writers  would  probably  consider,  under  the  head  of,  the 
means  of  execution  of  international  law.  But  we  may  retain 
the  reference  to  consent ;  inasmuch  as  inflictions  on  Nations,  ac 
cording  to  international  law,  are  not  intended  as  punishments, 
but  are  intended  as  forces  to  coerce  consent ;  and  inasmuch  as  it 
makes  a  neater  and  more  uniform  classification,  to  retain  some 
modification  of  consent,  as  the  basis  of  this  Fourth  division,  as 
well  as  of  the  preceding  three ;  and  also  because  the  fear  of  re 
course  to  pressure,  is  often  one  of  the  leading  motives  whereby 
backward  or  selfish  Nations,  are  induced  to  accord  with  improved 
laws,  although  nothing  is  said  about  such  fear ;  and,  therefore, 
pressure  may  be  classed  as  one  of  the  foundations.  For,  the 
theory  of  the  equality  of  Nations,  only  extends  in  practice,  to 
etiquette,  and  hardly  to  that. 

These  pressures  to  consent,  consist  partly  of  reprisals,  and 
partly  of  treaties  excepting  the  offending  Nation  from  some  of 
the  usual  privileges  or  honors  of  Nations,  or  excepting  its  citi 
zens  from  the  common  privileges  of  travel  or  trade ;  also  entire 
non-intercourse,  and  in  the  last  resort,  war.  Although  in  the 
Synthetics  we  are  to  take  pretty  strong  moral  ground  against 
war,  yet  in  the  Analytics  we  must  treat  it  as  a  reserved  right. 

§  3.  Sources. 

The  sources  of  international  law,  namely,  its  law  documents, 
are  summed  up  (by  Wheaton  §  15,)  into  six,  and  may  thus  be 
condensed  : — -(1)  "  Text  writers  of  authority, — snowing  what  is 
the  approved  usage  of  Nations,  or  the  general  opinion  respecting 
their  mutual  conduct,  with  the  definitions  and  modifications  in 
troduced  by  general  consent.  *  *  *  They  are  generally  impar 
tial  in  their  judgment.  They  are  witnesses  of  the  sentiments 
and  usages  of  civilized  Nations.  *  *  *  (2)  Treaties  of  peace, 
alliance  and  commerce,  declaring,  modifying  or  defining  the  pre 
existing  international  law.  *  *  *  (3)  Ordinances  of  particular 
States,  prescribing  rules  for  the  conduct  of  their  commissioned 
cruisers  and  prize  tribunals.  *  *  *  (4)  The  adjudications  of 
international  tribunals,  such  as  boards  of  arbitration  and  courts 
of  prize.  As  between  these  two  sources  of  international  law, 


PRELIMINARIES   OF   INTERNATIONAL   LAW.  263 

greater  weight  is  justly  attributable  to  the  judgments  of  mixed 
tribunals,  appointed  by  the  joint  consent  of  the  two  Nations  be 
tween  whom  they  are  to  decide,  than  to  those  of  admiralty  courts 
established  by  and  dependent  on  the  instructions  of  one  Nation 
only.  *  *  *  (5)  Another  depository  of  international  law  is  to 
be  found  in  the  written  opinions  of  official  jurists,  given  confi 
dentially  to  their  own  governments.  *  *  *  Where  an  opinion 
has  been  adverse  to  the  sovereign  client,  and  has  been  acted 
on,  and  the  State  which  submitted  to  be  bound  by  it  was  more 
powerful  than  its  opponent  in  the  dispute,  we  may  confidently 
assume  that  the  law  of  Nations,  such  as  it  was  then  supposed  to 
be,  has  been  correctly  laid  down.*  *  *  (6)  The  history  of  the 
wars,  negotiations,  treaties  of  peace,  and  other  transactions  re 
lating  to  the  public  intercourse  of  Nations." 

Here  is  to  be  mentioned  another  source  of  international  law, 
namely,  the  moral  and  benevolent  organizations,  especially  the 
religious  ones.  Ancient  Rome  had,  as  it  were,  a  special  band  of 
officers  to  supervise  and  execute  international  law.  It  was  a  sort 
of  religious  body,  as  it  also  performed  the  religious  and  sacrificial 
rites  of  the  occasion, — viz.,  the  collegium  fetialium.  During  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  Popes  were  often  appealed  to  as  authority  in 
international  affairs.  And  probably  after  all,  science  will  not 
dispense  with,  but  rather  point  us  back  to,  calling  into  exercise 
some  organs  of  the  church,  as  the  best  and  truest  cosmopolitan 
judges,  and  the  most  reliable  representatives  of  the  rights  of 
MANKIND.  International  disputes  can  be  settled,  and  wars  pre 
vented,  only  by  reference  to  the  highest  principles  of  human 
nature,  and  under  decisions  by  the  most  reliable  men.  The 
Christian  church,  therefore,  may  be  enumerated  as  one  of  the 
undeveloped  organs  or  sources  of  international  law. 

Another  source  of  international  law,  would  be  the  literature 
and  the  legal  decisions,  that  would  arise,  in  the  actual  develop 
ment  of  the  system  of  Precincts,  such  as  we  have  proposed. 
This  system  develops  fresh  from  nature,  and  ever  receives  fresh 
life  and  direction  from  nature,  aided  at  the  same  time  by  all  the 
other  organs  and  sources  of  international  law;  all  acting  sponta 
neously  and  closely  in  unison  with  nature,  but  with  the  element 
of  war  or  physical  force  excluded,  by  the  peace  functions  of  the 
Nation  over  them. 


264  BK-  IIL      NATION.      II.  I. 

Our  proposed  system  of  Corporations,  would  also  develop  the 
same  principles,  as  international  law,  and  would  thus  be  another 
source  of  it. 

We  do  not  pretend  to  state  what  the  law  of  Nations  actually 
is,  so  much  as,  what  it  OUGHT  to  be.  Our  sketch,  then,  is  rather 
an  ideal  of  what  natural  and  Christian  international  law  ought 
to  be,  as  to  its  substance,  but  of  course  not,  as  to  its  form.  But 
this  ideal  is  to  be  all  along  subjected  to  such  modifications  as 
mutuality  may  require.  The  Christian  ideal  when  presented  as 
a  political  rule,  generally  depends  in  part  upon  the  condition  of 
mutuality.  Mutuality  of  international  obligations,  is  secured  by 
two  means, — one  is  negotiation  or  treaty,  the  other  is  the  actual 
law,  as  the  same  is  acknowledged  and  made  unequivocal.  Hence 
in  international  law,  there  is  comparatively  less  respect  due  to  the 
ideal,  than  in  municipal  law  ;  and  more  respect  due  to  the  actual. 
For  municipal  law,  being  more  thoroughly  instituted  into  the 
common  thought  and  common  life,  of  Individuals,  is  supposed 
to  occupy,  and  does  in  fact  occupy,  much  of  the  position  of  a 
moral  ideal.  Another  reason  of  the  difference  is,  that  the  mu 
nicipal  law  forbids  battle  among  its  suljects,  and  presumes  peace 
as  its  ground  of  operation.  But  international  law  acknowledges 
war,  and  provides  for  it,  and  is  chiefly  occupied  either  in  pre 
venting,  or  conducting,  or  concluding  war.  Nevertheless,  we 
present  our  sketch  of  this  ideal  in  its  radical  form. 

Now,  coming  down  from  the  abstract  to  the  concrete,  of  course, 
the  Law  of  Nations,  among  European,  and  even  among  Chris 
tian  Nations,  has  had  a  historical  origin.  Nations  having  had  a 
common  origin,  traceable  by  history,  or  having  had  intercourse 
for  many  centuries,  will  have  a  connection  between  their  Law-s 
of  Nations,  their  laws  of  mutual  intercourse,  more  than  in  any 
thing  else,  at  all  common  to  them.  Historical  divergencies  in 
language,  in  religion,  in  customs,  in  dress,  &c.,  will  all  be  marked, 
and  generally  tend  to  farther  divergency :  but  the  Law  of  their 
mutual  intercourse,  must  necessarily  tend  towards  a  constant  ap 
proximation,  after  they  emerge  from  that  obscurity  and  mutual 
repugnance  which  envelop  their  origin  as  Nations.  Hence,  as 
regards  the  Law  of  Nations,  there  is  more  agreement,  than  as 
to  what  compose  the  fundamental  principles  of  Christianity 
itself.  So  that  this  Law  is  a  "  positive77  law,  but  yet  an  "  irn- 


MOST   GENERAL   INTERNATIONAL   LAWS.  265 

perfect"  one,  owing  to  its  having  neither  a  legislative,  a  judicial, 
nor  an  executive  power  to  enforce  it ;  nor  is  any  such  likely  to 
arise  just'y  and  properly. 

But  in  this  Law,  just  as  much  as  in  Christianity,  we  ever  have 
right  to  appeal  from  history  to  the  original  authorities,  and  thus 
to  discuss  what  it  OUGHT  to  be,  as  well  as  what  it  actually  is. 
And  whilst  most  writers  discuss  chiefly  or  only,  what  it  is,  surely 
here  and  there  an  isolated  one,  has  righ£  to  discuss  what  it  ought 
to  be. 

CHAP.  II.  MOST  GENERAL  INTERNATIONAL  LAWS. 

§  1.  Leagues. 

The  right  of  Nations  to  form  leagues  or  confederations,  has 
been  sufficiently  advocated  above,  under  the  Kelations  of  Na 
tion  to  Mankind.  But  such  confederations,  if  for  offensive 
operations  or  offensive  war,  would  belong  to  the  War  part  of 
the  subject.  But  defensive  alliances  would  belong  to  this  Gen 
eral  part,  because  their  principal  tendency  would  be  towards 
peace.  Yet  defensive  alliances  could  not  be  considered  as  be 
longing  to  this  part,  if  the  privilege  of  Individuals  to  do,  much 
as  they  please,  in  other  countries,  continues  to  be  maintained. 
Because,  under  that  theory,  invasion  or  Offensive  War,  is  some 
times  the  only  method  of  defence  of  citizens  accounted  abused 
by  foreigners.  But  viewing  the  privilege  otherwise;  consistency 
with  our  own  theory  requires  us  to  mention  this  subject  of  alli 
ances  in  this  place,  so  far  as  it  belongs  at  all  to  international  law. 

§  2.  Treaties. 

In  International  Law,  Treaties  fulfill  nearly  a  similar  exten- 
siveness  of  function,  that  Trusts  do  in  the  civil  law,  or  that 
"state-rights"  do  in  the  Nation;  namely,  they  can  accomplish 
every  thing  not  specially  and  clearly  forbidden  by  some  higher 
law.  And  therefore  we  need  not  enter  into  particulars;  The 
most  difficult  part  of  the  subject  really,  is,  what  relates  to  the 
continuity  of  treaties,  namely,  what  reserved  rights  remain  in 
either  party  alone  to  annul  them,  and  the  effect  that  war  has 
upon  them. 

In  regard  to  the  reserved  right  of  revoking  them,  the  fact  or 
element  of  coercion  in  forming  them,  cannot  be  pleaded  as  a 
sufficient  ground  for  non-obligation,  because  then,  the  means  of 


266  BK-  IIL    NATION,    ii.  ii. 

peace  would  be  greatly  weakened, — for  as  Dana  says,  "coercion 
*  *  *  is  of  the  essence  and  idea  of  war." 

On  the  other  hand,  absolute  perpetuity  of  promises  for  the 
future,  cannot  be  included,  because  in  history,  the  changes  of 
Nations  are  too  great,  and  their  lives  too  long,  to  allow  any  such 
preposterous  claim.  Perhaps  the  best  rule  would  be,  to  adopt 
a  limit  of  time  for  promises  of  future  action,  a  new  sort  ;«f 
"statute  of  limitations,"  say  the  average  length  of  the  life  of 
Individuals,  namely,  33  years,  as  the  duration  of  the  obligation, 
because  then  the  average  race  of  Individuals  would  have  changed. 
It  would  not  be  admissible  to  allow  the  express  use  of  the  word 
"  forever,"  or  other  similar  term,  or  other  dodge  of  the  legists,  to 
interfere  seriously  with  this  rule,  because  the  unscrupulous  con 
querors  would  always  insert  such  terms.  At  this  point  however, 
the  decision  of  a  congress  of  Nations  might  be  allowed,  as  a 
new  sort  of  "seal,"  sufficient  to  lengthen  the  duration  of  the 
promises  of  a  treaty,  perhaps  to  a  century,  but  scarcely  any 
longer, — excepting,  of  course,  treaties  for  the  permanent  transfer 
of  territory ;  including  within  this  exception,  also,  the  treaties 
which  acknowledged  the  birth  or  independence  of  Nations,  or 
any  thing  else  which  from  its  very  nature  implied  perpetuity. 

The  question  is  raised,  how  far  war,  the  mere  fact  itself, 
annuls  treaties.  In  general  we  would  say,  war  revokes  the 
contents  of  previous  treaties.  But  to  this  there  are  several  ex 
ceptions,  namely;  stipulations  in  regard  to  the  conduct  of  the 
next  ensuing  war;  stipulations  as  to  actions  that  had  been  ac 
complished  and  finished  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  ; 
stipulations  in  regard  to  which  disputes  had  arisen  and  had  been 
prominent  causes  of  the  war.  This  last  mentioned  exception  is 
disputed  by  some  modern  authorities  ;  still,  it  depends  upon  the 
obvious  principle,  that  the  differences  which  had  caused  the  war, 
Would  naturally  be,  either  provided  for  at  its  conclusion  by 
treaty,  or  else  were  to  be  dropped;  which  could  only  be  the 
understanding,  by  regarding  the  previous  treaty  stipulations 
revoked,  and  the  questions  then  at  issue,  to  be  solvable  only  ac 
cording  to  the  general  principles  of  the  law,  apart  from  special 
ties  of  treaty. 

Other  disputed  points  will  be  settled  by  adopting  the  princi 
ple,  that  the  effect  of  war  on  a  treaty,  is  to  be  judged,  not  by 


MOST   GENERAL    INTERNATIONAL   LAWS.  267 

the  general  nature  of  the  treaty,  but  by  the  particular  stipula 
tions  therein,  each  such  stipulation  requiring  a  separate  judg 
ment.  For  instance,  the  treaty  of  peace  and  recognition  of  our 
nationality  by  England,  in  1783,  contained  also  a  stipulation 
granting  certain  rights  of  fishery  in  the  British  dominions. 
Now  the  question  is,  whether  the  war  of  1812  revoked  that  stip 
ulation.  Politicians  and  "  patriots"  say,  no !  But  the  writer, 
contrary  to  the  common  American  assertion,  must  admit  that 
this  stipulation  was  annulled  by  the  War  of  1812.  But,  had 
the  dispute  in  question  been  one  relating  to  a  previous  stipula 
tion  about  boundary,  or  title  to  property,  or  other  finished  fact, 
IT  would  not  have  been  revoked  by  the  latter  war. 

If,  however,  the  war  were  caused  by  a  Nation's  express  re 
fusal  to  continue  fulfilling  stipulations,  which  it  had  previously 
and  evidently  performed, — and  it  should  throw  down  the  gaunt 
let  of  war  as  the  alternative, — such  a  Nation  would  of  course 
revoke  its  assent  to  the  treaty,  and  would  thereby  forfeit  all  its 
rights  and  claims  under  it.  And  if,  in  the  struggle  of  war,  it 
should  be  permanently  defeated,  this  defeat  would  revive  the 
rights  and  claims  of  the  conquering  Nation,  without  reviving 
those  of  the  defeated  Nation,  any  further  than  the  conqueror 
voluntarily  allowed,  or  than  the  general  law  of  Nations,  apart 
from  the  treaty,  required. 

Again,  if  a  part  of  a  Nation  rebels,  and  sets  up  its  own  inde 
pendent  government  positively,  it  thereby  ceases  to  have  any 
rights  other  than  if  it  were  a  really  independent  Nation ;  be 
cause  such  action  binds  itself,  but  it  does  not  bind  the  other 
party.  Hence,  if  the  revolted  part,  is  positively  and  perma 
nently  defeated,  the  very  best  view  that  can  be  taken  of  its 
rights,  is,  that  they  are  only  the  rights  of  a  defeated  Nation. 
In  such  a  case,  the  old  constitution  occupies  the  same  relative 
position,  as  an  old  treaty,  namely,  binding  upon  the  defeated 
party,  but  not  so  upon  the  conquerors. 

The  most  that  can  be  asked  for  a  "  belligerent,"  is  the  right 
of  a  Nation  apro  tempore."  But  if  the  "belligerent"  succeeds, 
and  treaties  of  peace  and  acknowledgment  are  made  by  the  mili 
tary  authorities,  in  good  faith  to  all,  then  such  treaties  are  bind 
ing  upon  the  old  Nation,  no  matter  what  the  old  constitution 
or  laws  may  have  said.  Because,  if  the  old  Nation  is  defeated 


268  BK.  III.      NATION.      IT.  II. 

as  to  the  object  of  the  war,  then  treaties  made  with  its  military 
power,  must  be  binding  upon  it,  as  to  that  object;  and  all  old 
articles  and  laws  to  the  contrary,  can  now  be  considered  as 
having  been  only  "  pro  tempore"  as  to  IT. 

The  next  question  about  treaties  is,  whether  one  Nation  con 
tracting,  is  bound  to  look  to  all  the  concurrent  powers  of  the 
other,  which  are  necessary  to  complete  the  treaty.  The  answer 
would  seem  justly  to  be,  that  the  first  named  Nation  is  as  much 
bound  to  know  the  one  part  of  the  other  Nation's  rules  and 
powers,  as  it  is  the  other  part.  This  question  comes  up  in  a 
serious  difficulty  existing  in  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States;  inasmuch  as  the  President  and  Senate  are.  invested  with 
the  treaty-making  power  ;  but  yet,  if  the  treaty  require  the  pay 
ment  of  money,  or  any  positive  legislation,  it  cannot  be  completed 
without  the  co-operation  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  But 
that  house  does  not  always  accord  with  the  other.  What  then 
is  the  right  principle  ?  The  answer  according  to  fairness  and 
equity  would  *seem  to  be,  that  "  the  .house"  has  the  right  to  re 
fuse  its  concurrence,  when,  and  only  when, — either  the  President 
or  Senate,  or  the  foreign  contracting  power,  had  reasonable  evi 
dence  to  believe  the  house  was  in  fact  AVERSE  to  the  measure. 
The  contrary  rule  would  take  away  the  independence  of  the 
house,  which  is  one  of  its  essential  elements.  Not  the  question 
of  constitutionality,  but  the  question  of  opinion  of  constitution 
ality,  may  be  brought  in,  as  well  as  of  expediency.  This  seems 
plainly  to  be  equity  in  all  cases  .where  the  powers  of  parties  are 
concurrent,  as  also  in  the  case  of  Individual  partners,  in  any  of 
the  common  businesses  of  life. 

The  case  is,  as  if  three  partners  are  engaged  in  any  business, 
under  a  general  agreement,  giving  each  his  appropriate  func 
tions  to  perform, — then,  any  two  partners  are  not  bound  to 
hesitate  in  every  performance  of  their  proper  function,  to  STUDY 
whether  the  other  one  would  approve, — but,  on  the  other  hand, 
neither  have  they  any  right  to  do  that  which  they  KNOW  is 
against  his  approval, — especially  when  his  active  co-operation 
in  some  subsequent  act,  in  his  own  appropriate  department,  is 
necessary  to  complete  the  transaction. 

But  to  give  less  right  than  the  above,  to  the  treaty-making 
powers,  would  be  to  trespass  on  •  the  rights  of  the  Senate  and 


MOST    GENERAL   INTERNATIONAL   LAWS.  269 

President ;  although  in  matters  that  really  would  allow  of  long 
postponement,  and  of  uncertain  conditions ;  it  would  be  the  duty 
of  the  treaty-making  power  to  insert  an  express  condition,  "  pro 
viding  that  the  House  of  Representatives  concur."  But,  the 
question  .whether  any  matter  would  allow  of  such  postponement 
a  id  conditions,  the  Senate  and  President  are  the  proper  judges 
of,  provided  they  exercise  their  judgment  in  good  faith. 
§  3.  Eminent  Domain. 

The  subject  of  Eminent  Domain,  perhaps,  belongs  to  the  con 
sideration  of  the  rights  of  the  Individual-Nation,  which  have 
been  argued  above;  but  so  long  as  there  remains  any  part  of 
the  Earth,  of  which  the  claim  of  Eminent  Domain  is  not  yet 
settled,  nor  granted  to  some  of  the  civilized  and  recognized 
Nations, — so  long  it  may  be  proper  to  retain  the  subject  under 
this  head.  Other  writers  would  find  another  reason  for.  consid 
ering  Eminent  Domain  under  international  law,  namely,  the 
consequences  of  their  theory  of  "do  as  you  please  in  other  coun 
tries,"  which  continually  brings  the  believers  of  it,  in  conflict 
with  the  "  eminent"  rights  of  foreign  Nations. 

The  right  of  Eminent  Domain  comprises; — (1)  The  sponta 
neous  right  of  ownership  to  all  property  not  personally,  nor 
otherwise  appropriated,  whether  land  or  water,  navigable  or 
otherwise,  appropriable  by  Individuals  or  otherwise ; — (2)  The 
right  to  purchase  fairly,  and  to  build,  manufacture,  improve  and 
hold,  all  property  real  and  personal,  necessary  for  the  perform 
ance  of  its  functions  of  government ; — (3)  The  right  to  collect  all 
reasonable  and  necessary  taxes,  for  the  due  performance  of  its 
functions ; — (4)  The  right  within  its  own  boundaries,  of  govern 
ment,  as  excluding  other  Nations;  and  the  right  of  fixing  its 
own  external  boundaries,  exclusive  of  Precinct-interference; — and 
(5)  The  right  ef  reasonable  and  necessary,  but  only  very  general 
control,  over  all  governmental  proceedings  within  its  geograph 
ical  boundaries,  even  as  against  its  own  Precincts.  (6)  But 
when  the  question  of  division  of  the  Nation  arises,  this  of  Emi 
nent  Domain  has  no  power  over  it ;  as  has  been  shown  above ; 
for  the  question  itself  INVOLVES  A  DIVISION  OF  THAT  RIGHT. 

In  all  these  rights,  \ve  can  readily  see,  that  in  due  submission 
to  nationality,  Precincts  have,  or  ought  to  have,  in  regard  to 
other  Precincts,  similar  concurrent  rights, — each  within  itself. 


270  BK-  IIL    NATION,    ii.  ii. 

Nations  far  in  advance  of  others  in  civilization,  assume  on 
discovery,  the  right  of  government,  and  even  of  the  property  of 
the  land,  especially  of  nomadic  or  roving  tribes.  The  right  to 
the  land,  as  to  its  settlement  and  cultivation,  depends  upon  the 
rights  of  the  unit  Mankind,  and  especially  upon  the  need  that 
arises,  because  of  the  filling  up  of  the  Earth  with  population. 
The  right  of  government  by  the  very  superior  Nation,  depends 
partly  on  that  of  the  land,  and  partly  upon  an  almost  universal 
superiority,  intellectual  and  moral. 

Now,  the  "  Monroe-doctrine,"  is  a  partial  claim  to  Eminent 
Domain,  as  against  all  the  other  civilized  Nations  of  the  Earth. 
Striking  indeed  is  the  coolness  and  assumption  of  ten  or  twenty 
or  forty  millions  of  people,  saying  to  all  the  rest  of  the  civilized 
world, — we  take  one  whole  quarter  of  the  Globe  as  our  heir 
loom;  and  no  other  Nation  shall  send  its  national  organ  into  this 
Quarter,  to  rule  the  savage  and  half-civilized  tribes,  that  we 
are  not  willing  to  rule,  and  not  able  to  receive  without  ruining 
ourselves ;  nor  indeed  do  we  know  what  to  do  with  them.  All 
the  Individuals  of  your  civilized  Europe,  may  indeed  come  here 
as  Individuals,  if  you  will  go  through  the  political  sieve  of  our 
uniformity,  and  swear  allegiance  to  our  nationality,  and  to  our 
claim  to  this  Quarter  of  the  Globe-heir-loom.  Such  a  mode  of 
discussion  may  be  patriotic  or  democratic,  but  it  can  hardly  find 
either  precedent  or  justification,  in  eternal  principles  of  Interna 
tional  Law.  Bat  as  a  temporary  expedient,  to  prevent  wars  be 
tween  Ourselves  and  Europeans,  the  position  may  be  tolerable, 
until  better  policies  than  War  shall  prevail,  and  better  civil  gov 
ernments,  in  Europe  and  elsewhere.  But  what  a  doctrine  to  be 
proposed  as  an  eternal  principle  of  Social  SCIENCE  !  And  yet, 
it  is  our  non-interference  in  European  aifairs,  that  reconciles 
Europe  to  refrain  also  from  interference  with  us.  Besides, 
European  Nations  have  nearly  all  of  Africa,  and  large  parts  of 
Asia,  convenient  for  them  to  carry  their  power  and  civilization 
thereunto;  and  this  gives  us  an  equitable  claim  to  a  similar 
development  on  this  continent.  f 

On  the  other  hand,  the  right  must  be  admitted,  of  every  civ 
ilized  Nation  to  establish  restrictions  sufficient  to  prevent  foreign 
Nations,  not  at  all  homogeneous  or  friendly  to  it,  from  establish 
ing  themselves  too  near  it,  or  in  a  part  of  its  probable  dominions. 


MOST   GENERAL   INTERNATIONAL   LAWS.  271 

But  these  questions  of  homogeneity  and  friendliness,  involve  the 
subjects  of  religion  and  morals  and  race,  as  well  as  forms  of 
government ;  and  our  government  cannot  cope  with  these  topics. 

The  recognized  right  of  taxing  foreign  commodities,  together 
with  the  necessities  of  defence,  justify  every  Nation  in  a  claim 
of  exclusive  control  over  several  miles  width  of  the  sea-coast : 
the  rest  of  the  sea  is  held  as  common  property.  Since  this  law 
follows  a  coast  as  it  fills  up,  instead  of  giving  a  fixed  line, — it 
seems  to  be  expressed  in  the  best  manner. 
§  4.  Arbitration. 

This  topic  is  placed  here,  merely  because  its  great  prominence 
in  the  public  mind  at  present,  would  be  apt  to  lead  readers 
to  look  for  it  somewhere  under  the  head  of  Nation.  But  in 
our  classification,  the  proper  place  for  arbitration  is  under  our 
head  "  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT"  ;  where  arbitration  comes  up,  to 
gether  with  juries,  and  the  other  methods  of  settling  controver 
sies  and  administering  law.  Nor  is  arbitration  any  better  fitted 
for  national  affairs,  than  it  is  for  Precinct  or  Corporation  or  In 
dividual  ;  howbeit,  it  is  the  best  method  in  all  cases  : — and  one 
of  the  great  problems  of  government,  is  to  devise  methods  of 
making  it  practicable  and  regular,  more  or  less  in  all.  We  have 
touched  upon  it  in  Summary  Introduction  II.  X. 
§  5.  Naturalization  (Indicated) . 

In  this  general  place,  perhaps,  rather  than  elsewhere,  the 
subject  of  naturalization,  and  its  counterpart,  de-naturalization, 
ought  to  be  considered.  This  seems  to  be  the  case,  because  nat 
uralization,  although  generally  accomplished  in  time  of  peace,  is 
generally  disputed,  if  at  all,  in  time  of  war.  Another  reason  is, 
that  according  to  our  theory,  the  right  of  naturalization  in  a 
neutral  Nation,  ought  not  to  be  interrupted  in  time  of  war,  if 
the  consent  of  the  adopting  country  can  be  obtained ;  because  it 
is  often  needed,  then,  both  by  Individuals  and  Families,  rather 
than  at  any  other  time.  But  since  the  discussion  is  lengthy,  and 
would  interrupt  the  course  of  thought  we  are  pursuing,  and 
because  it  takes  a  wider  range,  we  have  treated  it  as  a  separate 
Division,  namely,  Part  III.  of  the  Nation. 

As  to  the  right  sometimes  assumed,  of  a  Nation,  to  recall  its 
citizens  from  a  foreign  country,  the  claim  is  slniply  a  preposter 
ous  tyranny  against  the  rights  of  the  Individual,  if  interpreted 


272  BK-  in.    NATION,    ii.  in. 

to  mean  anything  more,  or  the  disobedience  to  the  command,  to 
be  punished  any  heavier  than  by  a  mere  de-naturalization  of 
the  absentee,  and  perhaps  by  an  order  not  to  return. 

§  6.  Forms. 

~No  settlement  of  great  international  disputes  can  be  made, 
until  all  questions  of  form  become  absorbed  in  the  great  ques 
tions  of  spirit  and  truth.  A  people  may  dispute  among  them 
selves,  whether  a  case  shall  be  decided  by  forms  or  not,  in  dis 
regard  to  truth  and  righteousness;  but  may  not  dwell  much 
upon  such  a  consideration,  in  a  discussion  with  a  foreign  Nation. 
The  question  with  us,  for  instance,  is,  not  at  all,  whether  the 
Alabama  got  to  sea  in  due  form  of  laAV ;  but,  the  facts  of  our 
injuries.  And  on  the  other  hand,  when  a  criminal  escapes  from 
one  country  to  another,  as  frond  England  to  this  country,  the 
question  is,  not  whether  he  ought  to  be  held  by  our  forms ,  but 
the  question  is,  whether  he  is  probably  guilty. 

The  question  about  forms  of  proceeding,  in  international  law, 
may  be  settled  simply  thus :  that  all  forms  valid  in  their  Locality, 
should  be  valid  in  other  Localities,  as  to  all  acts  and  proceedings 
previous  to  war,  or  litigation,  as  the  case  may  be ;  but  that  after 
war  or  litigation,  and  for  the  proceedings  therein,  the  forms  must 
all  conform  to  those  of  the  government  for  the  time  being,  of  the 
Locality  where  the  property  lies,  if  the  case  be  of  property;  or 
where  the  persons  are  held,  if  the  case  be  of  persons. 

CHAP.  III.      AFFAIRS   IN   PEACE. 

§  1.  Property  in  General. 

Having  thus  touched  upon  the  consideration  of  the  most 
general  international  laws,  we  consider  next  the  particulars, 
separately: — Of  Affairs  in  Peace: — And,  of  Affairs  in  War. 

We  come  now  to  consider  that  part  of  the  law,  which  relates 
to  affairs  in  Peace : — also  in  two  parts  : — Of  Property : — Arid, 
of  Persons. 

The  general  rule  of  property  is,  or  should  be,  that  all  property 
real  and  personal,  must  be  awarded  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
location  wherein  it  is  situated.  To  which  there  are  two  classes 
of  disputed  exceptions.  One  class  of  disputed  exceptions,  is, 
where  both  the  litigants  are  citizens  of  a  foreign  country.  But 
even  th's  exception  cannot  be  pleaded  for  "real"  or  immovable 


AFFAIRS   IN  PEACE.  273 

property,  and  therefore  it  should  not  be  for  personal  property; 
because,  according  to  our  theory,  there  is  no  longer  any  radical 
political  distinction  of  right  or  expediency,  between  those  two 
kinds  of  property,  in  most  modern  and  civilized  countries. 

The  other  class  of  exceptions,  is  that  of  the  estates  of  deceased 
persons.  In  this  case,  justice  seems  clearly  to  say,  that  where 
the  deceased  leaves  a  will,  it  should  be  held  valid  if  legal  EITHER 
in  the  place  where  it  was  made,  or  in  the  place  where  it  was  to 
take  effect.  For  we  cannot  know  which  rule  the  testator  aimed 
to  conform  to.  This  should  be  the  rule,  except  that  particular 
bequests  in  conflict  with  local  laws,  should  be  construed  as  if  of 
an  intestate  there ;  and  that  when  the  deceased  dies  intestate,  the 
property  should  be  awarded,  —  one  half  according  to  his  own 
Nation's  laws,  and  the  other  half,  according  to  the  laws  of  its 
location. 

In  all  cases  regarding  property  "  situate"  in  one  country,  when 
the  decision  made  in  another,  requires  for  its  execution  the  aid 
of  the  one  in  which  the  property  is  situated, — the  voluntary 
concurrence  of  this  one,  ought  to  be  obtained.  And  it  is  the 
undoubted  right  of  any  Nation,  to  judge  of  the  justice  of  any 
decision  which  it  is  required  to  forcibly  or  legally  execute ;  and 
•if  any  of  its  own  citizens  are  affected  thereby,  it  is  its  duty  to 
judge  thereof. 

§2.  "The  Tariff." 

The  right  of  tariff  on  foreign  trade  has  been  universally  recog 
nized  :  but  this  subject  will  be  considered  under  the  element 
PKOPEETY.  We  may  however  say  here,  that  international  law 
only  requires  mutuality  ;  and  mutuality  consists,  not  in  uniform 
ity  of  particulars,  but  in  mutuality  of  spirit.  It  must  have  re 
gard  to  the  past  proceedings,  and  also  the  present  condition  of 
both  countries.  It  must  also  embrace  the  consideration,  of  the 
tariffs  of  all  the  other  countries  with  which  each  has  commerce. 
All  these  considerations  combine  to  make  the  resulting  decision 
possible,  only  in  a  general  spirit  of  friendliness  and  reciprocity. 
§  3.  The  "Person,"— in  General. 

The  claim  of  any  Nation,  to  prevent  its  citizens  from  emi 
grating,  although  still  maintained,  is  entirely  contrary  to  our 
whole  theory,  and  especially  to  the  principle  of  Individual 
selection,  and  to  the  Christian  spirit,  as  well  as  to  the  wisdom 

18 


274  BK-  in-    NATION,    ii.  in. 

and  progress  of  modern  times.  We  can  only  regard  Nations  as 
having  the  same  essential  rights  as  Precincts,  allowing  for  the 
increased  size,  and  for  other  evident  facts  and  necessities.  It  was 
formerly  held,  that  a  Nation  had  a  right  to  recall  its  own  citizens 
from  a  foreign  country;  but  the  United  States  have  exploded 
that  claim  as  made  by  foreign  Nations.  Nevertheless  in  the  Great 
Rebellion,  laws  were  enacted  forbidding  citizens  to  leave ;  and 
a  public  spirit  was  fostered,  that  it  was  even  the  duty  of  good 
citizens  to  return! 

The  Nation,  you  say,  has  the  right  of  control  or  guidance  over 
all  residents,  whether  its  own  citizens  or  foreigners.  If  so,  then 
other  Nations  besides  the  United  States  have  this  right.  But 
the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States  are  continually 
trespassing  on  this  right,  and  thus  making  and  maintaining 
enmity  among  foreign  Nations.  But  the  right  itself,  if  claimed 
by  a  semi-civilized  people  over  a  fully  civilized  one,  would  be 
disputable.  Moral  considerations  cannot  be  ignored  on  this 
subject. 

But  alas !  what  shall  we  say,  when  a  religious  teacher  enters  a 
foreign,  highly  civilized  country,  but  of  an  opposite  religion; 
and  there  publicly  teaches  his  religion,  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
his  then  residence  ?  The  answer  of  modern  civilization  must  be, 
to  allow  this  teacher,  providing  his  religious  sincerity  is  admis 
sible, — even  if  his  religious  teachings  seem  to  us  to  savor  of 
immorality.  Any  other  doctrine  would  have  been  good  against 
Christ,  and  his  apostles;  and  against  religious  reformers  gen 
erally.  And  the  same  principle  might  partly  apply  to  INTER- 
PRECINCT  travelling  preachers.  The  case  is  involved  in  much 
difficulty. 

In  cases  regarding  PERSONS,  no  division  or  apportionment, 
such  as  occurs  in  regard  to  PROPERTY,  is  conceivable,  except  in 
the  claims  of  marriage. 

In  regard  to  the  claims  of  husbands  or  parents,  in  a  foreign 
territory  ;  no  country  ought  to  be  held  bound  to  deliver  up  a 
woman  or  child,  contrary  to  its  own  principles ;  for  such  a  course 
is  horrifying  to  the  best  feelings  of  human  nature,  destructive  of 
the  human  rights  of  the  persons  forced,  and  to  the  national  rights 
of  home.  And  the  same  may  also  be  said  of  claims  for  personal 
services,  in  order  to  a  condition  anything  like  slavery. 


AFFAIRS   IN   PEACE.  275 

§  4.  Specialties  in  Marriage  and  Divorce. 

In  cases  where  the  marriage  is  disputed,  in  a  different  country 
from  where  it  is  alleged  to  have  been  contracted,  the  ordinary 
international  law  seems  utterly  at  fault.  And  judges  and  juries, 
in  response  to  the  voice  of  humanity,  sometimes  decide  such 
cases  according  to  the  principles  of  justice  and  common  sense,  in 
defiance  of  all  "  law." 

One  very  hard  case  is  something  like  this.  A  Protestant  man 
A  is  openly  married  to  a  Catholic  woman  B,  by  a  Catholic  priest 
in  country  A-B.  They  live  together  (and  have  children)  many 
years  in  honorable  marriage, — no  one  questioning  their  honor  or 
virtue,  although  an  old  antiquated  law  existed,  that  required  the 
Catholics,  in  such  marriage,  to  go  through  some  formalities  of 
deference  to  the  other  religion,  ruling  in  the  said  country  A-B. 
Well,  after  a  time,  A  marries  a  woman  who  is  perfectly  aware  of 
his  former  marriage,  and  then  removes  to  country  CJ  without  his 
first  Family.  Then  B,  with  the  Family,  follows,  and  claims 
alimony  for  herself,  and  maintenance  for  the  children.  In  such 
a  case,  the  usual  international  law  seems  entirely  against  justice, 
and  on  the  side  of  the  second  alliance. 

But  our  whole  theory  easily  settles  the  question  differently, 
and  upon  several  grounds.  Firstly,  our  Summary  Introduc 
tion  demands  that  we  jump  out  of  the  tangle  of  prescriptions, 
and  go  back  to  first  principles.  Secondly,  our  theory  of  inter 
national  law  demands  that  forms  be  absorbed  by  the  essence, 
spirit,  and  truth.  Hence,  forms  can  only  be  introduced  into  the 
methods  of  proving  the  marriage,  but  not  into  the  methods  of 
its  original  contraction.  Thirdly,  the  Family,  according  to  our 
theory,  is  an  eternal,  absolute  Unit  of  human  society.  Hence, 
the  voluntary  and  deliberate  act  of  the  competent  parties,  as  in 
tended  to  be  understood,  each  by  the  other,  is  binding  upon  them 
personally,  no  matter  what  positive  laws  may  say  to  the  contrary. 
Forms  or  "positive"  laws  can  only  be  binding  upon  other  persons, 
or  for  real  estate  in  and  of  the  country  concerned.  Fourthly, 
the  law  of  country  A-B  in  such  case  was  a  law  promotive  of 
fraud.  And  if  the  man  A,  from  the  first  did  not  intend  to 
continue  bound  by  the  alliance,  then  he  was  culpable  of  fraud, 
and  the  law  as  to  him  was  a  law^of  fraud ;  and  we  know  that 
in  "  law,"  fraud  vitiates  any  transaction.  Therefore  no  inter- 


276  BK-  HI.      NATION.     II.  III. 

national  or  treaty  law,  can  bind  to  uphold  for  any  Nation,  such 
a  law  of  fraud.  Fifthly,  whatever  disobedience  of  form,  against 
the  laws  of  their  own  country,  A  and  B  and  the  priest  com 
mitted  might  be  punished  in  their  own  country,  even  to  the 
loss  of  citizenship  there,  if  that  Nation  chose;  (but  cannot 
reach  as  a  crime,  unto  international  relations,  in  any  manner;) 
yet  not  to  the  destruction  of  life,  of  the  Individual  nor  of  the 
existence  of  the  Family  relation,  because  of  the  eternal  rights 
of  the  Six  Units. 

The  subject  of  foreign  marriage  and  divorce,  resolves  itself 
into  two  parts,  which  have  just  been  treated  of  separately, 
namely,  Property  and  Person.  But  to  be  more  particular: — 
the  case  occurs,  of  citizens  of  one  country  marrying  within  an 
other  country,  whether  emigrating  thither  purposely  to  marry 
in  contrariety  to  the  laws  of  their  own  country,  or  not.  The 
French  law  ignores  such  marriages.  But  according  to  our 
theory,  as  mentioned  elsewhere,  such  disobedience,  instead  of 
affecting  the  marriage,  should  affect  the  citizenship.  In  brief, 
all  disobedience  of  one's  own  Nation,  and  recourse  for  exemption 
to  another  Nation,  should  be  held  to  be  an  irrevocable,  or  at 
least  an  absolute,  abandonment  of  the  former  citizenship. 

But  in  cases  of  DIVORCE,  more  complicated  questions  arise. 
When  person  A  resides  in  country  A,  and  consort  B  gets  a 
divorce  in  country  jB,  contrary  to  tne  laws  of  A,  such  a  divorce 
should  have  no  more  authority  over  person  or  property  in  A 
than  waste  paper;  except  by  a  statute  of  limitation  for  the  rela 
tions  of  "  person"  only. 

The  question,  what  authority  should  such  a  divorce  have  in 
country  C,  is  answerable  by  only  one  of  two  principles,  namely, 
either  by  a  compromise,  such  as  acknowledging  the  divorce  as  to 
the  person,  but  partly  refusing  it  as  to  property;  or  else  by 
establishing  some  "  positive"  or  arbitrary  rule.  But  such  posi 
tive  rule,  however,  should  be  of  the  essence  of  the  compromise 
above  mentioned,  or  it  would  be  an  "  arbitrary  wrong." 

The  civil  law  seems  to  regard  removal  from  one  Locality  to 
another,  made  purposely  to  obtain  either  marriage,  or  divorce 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  first  place, — as  fraudulent,  and 
therefore  as  vitiating  all  the  proceedings  in  the  view  of  the  first 
place.  It  may  be  admitted  that  such  a  ruling  would  be  sound, 


' 
AFFAIRS   IN  PEACE.  277 

under  a  system  of  laws  founded  directly  upon  nature  and  moral 
right,  and  not  upon  prescription.  But  such  a  ruling,  under 
present  "  law,"  is  merely  a  technical  dodge  of  the  legists.  Pur 
pose  to  avoid  law,  fraudulent !  when  yet  the  thing  to  be  done 
itself,  and  all  the  proceedings  step  by  step,  are  according  to  law ! 
The  fact  is,  it  is  only  when  the  things  themselves,  for  instance, 
cheating  the  creditor,  gambling,  &c.,  are  themselves  wrong  under 
any  proceedings,  that  the  charge  of  fraud  arises  under  the  special 
proceedings.  And  the  assuming  that  a  divorce,  for  instance, 
was  itself  wrong,  is  ignoring  the  right  of  all  other  Localities  to 
form  their  own  opinion  thereon. 

§  5.  Transgressors. 

In  regard  to  transgressors  of  law,  whether  criminal,  civil  or 
political, — the  writer  cannot  see  why  it  has  ever  been  doubted, 
that  in  general  among  admitted  equals,  every  Locality  has  a 
right  to  keep  its  own  peace,  by  its  own  laws ;  and  that  if  for 
eigners  do  not  like  those  laws,  they  should  keep  away.  The  con 
trary  cannot  be  maintained,  only  so  far  as  the  Nation  interfered 
with,  is  held  .to  be/ar  inferior  to  the  other,  in  civilization  and 
rights.  And  even  then,  the  right  of  the  inferior,  should  only 
be  interfered  with,  so  far  as  its  exercise  was  actually  barbarous. 
But  alas !  this  rule  would  "  interfere  with  trade  and  travel"  and 
"  manifest  destiny,"  and  so  on ! 

The  idea  that  the  "flag"  should  protect  persons  engaged  in 
transgressing  the  laws  or  comities  or  equities  between  Nations, 
is  absurd  as  well  as  unjust,  and  if  thoroughly  carried  out,  would 
establish  and  protect  piracy,  as  effectually  as  the  laws  and  cus 
toms  of  Tripoli,  which  produced  our  war  with  that  power.  The 
public  may  rest  assured,  that  quite  other  than  the  apparent  or 
alleged  reasons,  are  the  real  reasons  for  our  national  policy  and 
dogmas  on  this  subject. 

It  is  disputed  whether  a  Nation  is  bound  by  natural  law,  to 
surrender  fugitives  from  justice,  to  the  Nation  in  whose  jurisdic 
tion  the  crime  was  committed.  Now,  supposing  laws  to  be  in 
tended  to  prevent  crime,  the  solution  is, — if  the  forsaken  country 
inflicts  the  greater  punishment,  that  is,  if  it  regards  the  crime 
as  of  a  deeper  kind,  the  duty  of  return  might  be  more  easily 
admitted  in  logic,  but  would  be  less  likely  to  be  allowed  in  prac 
tice  ;  but  if  the  adoptive  country  inflicts  the  greater  punishment, 


278  BK-  IIL      NATION.      II.  ITT. 

evidently  it  is  not  morally  bound  to  give  up  the  fugitive,  upon 
the  old  principles ;  else,  where  is  the  right  of  a  country  over  all 
its  residents,  or  its  right  to  defend  itself  from  criminals  ?  Yet, 
in  this  case,  the  claim  would  be  more  likely  to  be  allowed  in 
practice.  But  in  fact,  the  question  depends  at  least  equally  as 
much  on  the  citizenship  of  the  injured  person,  as  on  the  nature 
of  the  injuries,  and  also  on  the  contiguity  of  the  countries  in 
question.  The  foregoing  very  general  principles  may  readily  be 
understood  so  as  to  apply  to  political  offences,  as  well  as  to  nat 
ural  or  moral  ones ;  except  when  the  forms  of  government  or 
political  and  religious  structure,  are  essentially  different,  and 
antagonistic  in  their  nature. 

The  principal  justifiable  reason  for  the  return  to  the  forsaken 
country,  is  the  greater  facility  of  conviction  and  punishment. 
But  the  facility  does  not  always  depend  on  such  a  condition  as 
foreign  or  not ;  but  partly  on  conditions  of  local  distance,  and 
partly  on  many  metaphysical  and  moral  circumstances.  Even 
the  expenses  of  witnesses,  depend  more  on  distances  and  modes 
of  travel,  than  on  flags  or  nationalities.  The  great  desideratum 
is  the  establishment  of  such  procedures,  as  shall  insure  the  pun 
ishment  of  criminals,  by  some  power  and  somewhere,  by  law, 
no  matter  much,  where  or  by  whom.  Furthermore,  in  some 
countries,  and  even  in  some  Precincts,  conviction  and  execution 
of  a  sentence  for  crime,  are  very  uncertain,  whatever  may  be  the 
evidence;  whilst  perfect  evidence  is  rarely  to  be  obtained  any 
where. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  forsaken  country  accounts  deeds 
as  crimes,  which  the  adoptive  country  does  not  account  so, — the 
rule  of  course  would  be,  not  to  surrender  the  fugitive  at  all. 
Upon  this  principle,  political  offenders  are  not  subject  to  return. 
But  th is  exception  should  apply  only  when  the  offenders  are  citi 
zens  of  the  country  wherein  the  political  offence  is  committed  : 
because  we  must  allow  to  the  citizens  of  every  country,  a  degree 
of  right  to  revolution  therein,  which  we  ought  not  to  grant  to 
other  persons,  whose  very  object  in  going  there,  perhaps  was  to 
aid  in  revolution, — and  above  all,  this  exception  should  not 
apply,  when  the  offenders  are  proper  citizens  of  the  country  to 
which  they  return  after  committing  political  offences  in  a  foreign 
country;  because  the  exempting  such  offenders,  is  in  effect, 


AFFAIRS  IN   PEACE.  279 

making  every  country  a  kind  of  base  for  military  operations 
against,  and  for  revolutions  in,  every  other  country. 

What  then  shall  we  say  of  the  amity  or  friendship  exhibited, 
when  a  great  Nation,  not  only  pleads  for  the  release  of  persons 
imprisoned  in  a  foreign  country,  for  attempts  to  excite  insur 
rection  there,  but  actually  passes  a  resolution  welcoming  their 
.return,  and  allows  its  largest  metropolis  to  give  them  an  official 
reception  and  ovation,  on  their  return  home  ?  And  what  would 
we  have  said,  if  the  government  of  England  had  urged  in  that 
manner,  for  the  release  of  our  Southern  rebels,  and  then  having 
succeeded, — the  city  of  London  should  have  given  them  an  offi 
cial  ovation  ?  and  that  too,  at  the  very  time  they  were  bullying 
us  to  pay  some  disputed  private  claims  arising  in  a  previous 
war,  and  had  even  just  recalled  the  second  of  two  Ministers, 
because  of  their  not  pushing  such  claims  with  sufficient  vigor  ? 
The  term  "  Insult"  would  not  begin  to  express  our  indignation. 
And  the  question  becomes  really  contrary  to  all  scientific  expla 
nation,  when  we  remember  that  the  persons  so  offending,  had 
been  originally  citizens  of  the  country  wherein  the  offences  were 
committed,  but  had  become  naturalized  in  and  sworn  allegiance 
to  this  great  country,  and  then  had  gone  back  from  it,  full  of 
true  love  and  patriotism  for  their  ORIGINAL  country, — to  stir  up 
rebellion  against  its  government ! 

It  is  here  to  be  remarked,  however,  that  leagues  among  con 
tiguous  Nations,  to  be  durable  and  peaceable,  ought  to  contain 
stipulations  to  return,  at  least  the  worst  or  most  visionary  polit 
ical  fugitives,  as  well  as  civil  criminals ;  otherwise  the  territory 
of  either  party,  is  at  all  times  liable  to  be  made  the  base  of  vol 
untary  or  private  operations  against  the  other.  This  is  true, 
whether  the  contiguity  is  physical  or  metaphysical.  These  are 
some  of  the  cases  in  which  special  confederations  are  needed, 
between  such  contiguous  Nations.  And  if  the  rule  could  not  be 
made  to  apply  to  all  the  LARGE  rebellions,  it  might  at  any  rate, 
apply  to  the  petty  rebellions,  that  have  no  pretence  of  claim  for 
recognition  as  belligerency. 

Perhaps  the  refusal  or  reluctance  of  a  Nation  to  surrender  to 
its  neighboring  Nation,  the  political  fugitives  who  had  needlessly 
disturbed  its  peace,  might  be  circumvented  lawfully  by  the  fol 
lowing  method : — The  Nation  liable  to  such  disturbances  might 


280  BK-  in.    NATION,    ii.  iv. 

enact  a  law,  that*  all  such  persons  should  be  held  to  a  certain 
length  of  service  in  its  military  or  naval  forces.  Such  a  law 
ought  to  be  sufficient,  because  even  the  United  States  govern 
ment  acknowledges  that  its  naturalization  is  not  valid  against 
the  foreign  Nation's  claim  to  individual  military  service.  Be 
sides,  if  the  law  of  the  disturbed  Nation  provided  no  other  pun 
ishment  (than  here  mentioned),  for  such  returned  offenders,  the 
adoptive  country  would  be  more  willing  in  time  of  peace  (of 
which  we  speak),  to  surrender  them. 

CHAP.  IV.      AFFAIRS   IN   WAR. 

§  1.  In  General. 

Our  third  and  last  great  division  of  international  law,  is, 
Affairs  in  War. 

Although  war  is  a  great  and  almost  unpardonable  evil,  never 
theless,  it  is  a  common  fact,  and  has  to  be  provided  for.  Every 
probable  and  reasonable*  course  to  prevent  it,  should  of  course 
be  pursued.  We  mean,  not  merely  that  every  expedient  should 
be  adopted,  to  escape  from  war  after  provoking  its  appearance ; 
but  that  the  regular  course  and  policy  of  every  Nation,  should 
be  carefully  framed  purposely,  to  avoid  exciting  war,  or  exciting 
those  feelings,  either  of  cupidity,  rivalry  or  fear,  which  gen 
erally  provoke  it. 

Spencer's  assertion  that  the  position  merely  of  no  recourse  to 
offensive  war,  would  be  equally  as  productive  of  peace,  as  more 
radical  peace-ground,  is  erroneous ;  first,  because  people  differ  as 
to  what  constitutes  offensive  war.  It  is  erroneous  also,  because 
it  does  not  tend  to  a  thorough  disarmament,  nor  to  the  discourage 
ment  of  war-principles,  war-glory  and  the  war-spirit,  so  fully  as 
the  more  radical  grounds.  But  this  subject  must  be  postponed 
to  a  subsequent  volume,  except  as  incidentally  we  here  touch 
upon  the  arguments  for  ameliorating  the  severity  of  war,  and  for 
maintaining  the  rights  and  independence  of  human  personality. 

The  rights  of  Individuals  and  of  neutral  Nations  demand, 
that  timely  notice  of  several  months,  be  always  given  previously 
to  commencing  active  hostilities :  But  this  rule  cannot  easily 
apply  to  the  immediate  spots  of  sudden  ebullition,  nor  to  "  civil" 
wars.  To  make  it  practicable  for  the  latter,  would  be  quite  a 
feat  for  social  science. 


AFFAIRS   IN   WAR.  281 

Hardly  any  doctrine  seems  likely  to  become  so  practically 
efficient,  in  hindering  or  suppressing  war,  as  the  doctrine,  that 
quarreling  Nations  have  no  more  right  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  world,  by  their  quarrels,  than  rowdy  Individuals  have  to 
disturb  the  peace  of  a  municipality,  with  their  personal  fights: — 
or  than  selfish  Precincts  called  states,  would  have,  to  interrupt 
the  harmony  of  the  Nation,  with  Inter-Precinct  wars.  And  this 
doctrine  may  be  made  practical,  by  the  gradual  strengthening 
of  the  assertion  of  the  rights  of  neutrals,  in  all  possible  ways. 

The  International  rights  of  War  come  next  for  consideration. 
We  will  treat  of  them  under  the  following  divisions : — First : 
As  related  to  the  rights  of  Individual-persons,  whether  citizens, 
or  enemy-citizens,  including  all  three  as  moral  persons;  and 
consider  those  rights  of  the  Individual  which  concern  himself, 
his  soul,  and  his  happiness.  Second :  The  Rights  of  War  as 
related  to  the  Ways  and  Means  of  conducting  it,  the  policy,  the 
modes  of  warfare,  weapons,  and  ameliorations.  Third :  the 
Rights  of  War,  as  referring  to  contrabands,  both  things  and 
official  persons;  and  as  depending  on  or  related  to  Locality, 
whether  in  the  Neutral's  own  Locality,  or  in  Localities  common 
to  all  the  parties.  In  treating  of  these  subjects,  we,  in  the  first 
two  Divisions,  touch  property  only  in  a  casual  way  ;  because  the 
rights  of  persons  are  so  much  more  important,  and  so  much  less 
regarded,  by  writers  generally.  In  the  third  Division,  we  treat 
more  of  property,  because  the  usual  classifications  for  that  sub 
ject,  serve  also  to  arrange  the  ideas  in  regard  to  persons. 

§  2.  Relations  to  the  Individuals  of  the  Belligerent  Nations. 

First,  as  related  to  the  rights  of  Individuals  as  persons.  In 
the  first  place,  we  object  entirely  to  the  old  theory,  that  because 
the  governments  of  two  Nations,  make  war, — therefore  all  the 
people  of  both  Nations,  must  also  become  enemies  and  war 
against  each  other.  We  also  object  to  the  old  theory,  that  the 
Nation  warring  has  a  right  to  whatever  control  it  can  obtain, 
over  the  Individual  persons  of  its  Enemy-Nation,  restricted  only 
by  that  indefinite  idea,  Christian  or  human  civilization.  We 
protest  absolutely,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Individual,  against  all 
such -interpretations  of  nature  or  morality.  The  old  days  of 
brute  instinct  and  blind  impulse,  are  passing  away,  and  the  rights 
of  the  Individual  are  coming  up  into  notice.  Nowhere  perhaps, 


282  BK-  IIL      NATION.      II.  IV. 

is  the  right  "  to  ignore  the  state,"  more  needed,  but  less  easy  to 
be  obtained,  than  in  regard  to  war.  So  important  are  the  rights 
of  Individuals,  that  we  consider  them,  abstract  from  the  dis 
tinctions  between  citizen  or  alien,  Enemy-Nation  or  Neutral- 
Nation.  And  even  property  is  considered  and  felt  to  be,  rather 
a  means  of  happiness  to  the  Individual,  than  as  a  subject  of  ab 
stract  and  complicated  rights.  Can  it  be  possible  then,  that  we, 
having  been  nominally  Christian  Nations  a  thousand  years  or 
two,  and  Protestant  three  hundred, — shall  yet  persist  in  forcing 
men  to  say,  "Our  country  right  or  wrong"? 

Of  course  it  is  easy  to  see,  how  very  opposite  these  views  are, 
from  Mulford's,  and  the  high  imperial  German  theories, — that 
in  war,  the  Nation  has  right  to  the  services  of  ALL  its  citizens; 
and  that,  in  brief,  "  the  army  is  the  Nation." 

While  we  advocate  thus  in  theory,  the  rights  of  the  indi 
vidual  person,  we  must  confess  we  do  not  see  very  clearly  HOW 
these  rights  can  be  fully  and  practically  recognized  by  Nations 
at  war, — except  through  Individuals  concentrating  in  Peace- 
Precincts,  or  organizing  into  political  Corporations,  as  will  be 
explained  under  that  head.  At  least,  these  must  be  the  pre 
liminary  methods,  because  it  seems  a  long  while  away,  before 
Nations  will  be  so  Christianized,  as  to  allow  their  own  citizens 
who  enjoy  the  advantages  of  peace,  to  decline  the  responsibilities 
of  war;  and  seems  only  attainable  as  the  other  ameliorations  of 
war  that  have  been  introduced,  namely,  gradually  and  mutually. 
Although  doubtless  the  good  time  might  be  hastened  by  treaty 
stipulations,  so  that  even  long  before  wars  cease  altogether,  their 
most  oppressive  effects  may  cease  to  fall  upon  those  who  repu 
diate,  either  war  in  general,  or  the  particular  war  in  question  at 
any  particular  time. 

Citizens  of  Enemy-Nations  can  be  exempted  from  the  hypoth 
esis  that  they  are  actually  enemies,  and  from  the  consequent  dis 
abilities  of  that  hypothesis, — only  as  the  progress  of  cosmopol 
itan  liberality,  shall  make  proportional  changes  in  men's  feelings 
and  habits,  so  that  the  exemptions  would  be  reasonable  and  safe. 
And  therefore  it  is  only  gradually  that  Individuals  of  Enemy- 
Nations,  can  be  exempted  as  fully  as  the  citizens  of  Neutral^. 
Nations  are, — from  the  rule  forbidding  them  any  intercourse  or 
trade  whatever,  with  the  Individuals  of  the  opposite  belligerent. 


AFFAIRS   IN  WAR.  283 

Nevertheless,  throwing  aside  mere  impulses,  and  appealing  to 
reason  alone,  we  can  find  no  objection  to  such  trade,  except  along 
the  lines  of  belligerent  operation ;  and  even  there,  the  good  feel 
ings  promoted  by  light  trade,  would  do  more  to  produce  just 
peace,  than  continued  war.  This  has  been  illustrated  by  the 
petty  trade  between  soldiers  of  the  two  opposing  forces,  in  the 
late  rebellion. 

On  the  other  hand,  just  in  proportion  as  Individuals  are  held 
bound  to  the  WAR-duties  of  their  own  country,  so  also  should 
they  be  held  bound  to  its  peace-duties  as  neutrals ;  and  there 
fore  bound  not  to  interfere  individually,  in  the  quarrels  of  ene 
mies  or  belligerents.  Hence,  the  violation  of  such  peace-duties 
and  claims,  should  be  considered  quite  as  much  an  offence  against 
one's  own  country,  as  is  the  violation  of  its  war-duties  or  claims. 
Accordingly,  "  filibustering"  ought  to  be  held  as  a  high  offence 
against  our  own  country. 

Great  latitude  must  be  allowed  to  all  Nations,  to  judge  for 
themselves,  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  reasons  of  war,  so  long  as 
they  only  provide  for  injuring  persons  who  voluntarily  enter  into 
the  contest.  But  Christian  civilization  must  more  and  more 
place  NON-combatant  Individuals,  even  when  citizens  of  an 
Enemy-Nation,  on  a  par  with  the  citizens  of  neutral  Nations. 
Scarcely  anything  was  more  annoying  to  our  own  citizens  during 
the  rebellion,  than  being  drafted  into  compulsory  service  them 
selves,  whilst  foreigners  were  quietly  taking  their  ease  under  the 
"protection"  of  their  respective  consuls.  The  rights  of  the  In 
dividual  Unit  must  be  RE-ASSERTED,  in  the  face  of  the  Nation, 
the  Precinct,  or  even  Mankind  itself.  And  the  lesser  Units 
have  the  more  need,  to  RE-ASSERT  their  rights,  because  they 
have  NO  power  to  enforce  them. 

According  to  these  principles  it  is,  that  the  law  of  Nations 
is  more  and  more  exempting  neutrals  from  all  the  annoyances 
of  war.  Christian  civilization  not  only  strengthens  its  position, 
that  unconcerned  NATIONS  shall  not  be  disturbed  by  the  fighters, 
but  equally  as  fully  maintains  the  rights  of  the  Individual,  not 
to  be  disturbed  by  them.  Indeed,  the  change  itself  is  owing 
quite  as  much  to  the  rise  of  value  of  the  Individual,  all  over 
the  world,  as  to  the  rise  of  peace-principles.  It  will  not  answer 
here,  to  introduce  jugglery  of  words  about  a  Nation  being  a 


284  BK.  III.     NATION.     II.  IV. 

moral  personality,  for  however  that  may  be,  there  cannot  be  any 
question  that  a  human  being  is  a  moral  personality,  and  entitled 
to  the  rights  of  opinion  and  conscience ;  especially  in  non-inter 
ference  with  other  people's  fights.  At  first,  to  be  sure,  the  per 
sons  of  neutral  Nations  are  exempted,  because  of  prudential 
reasons,  or  of  fear ;  but  that  which  has  been  begun  from  policy, 
ought  to  be  confirmed  upon  principle,  and  the  rights  of  the  In 
dividuals  of  all  other  Nations,  confirmed  for  the  sake  both  of 
Justice  and  of  Conscience.  Hence  the  investigation  of  the 
rights  of  neutrals,  has  for  us  also  the  double  use  of  an  investi 
gation  also  of  the  rights  of  the  warring  Nations  over  citizens. 
Observe  however,  that  the  right  of  the  Individual  here  spoken 
of,  is  a  right  to  be  not  disturbed  from  his  own  peace,  by  the  wars 
of  others ;  but  is  not  a  right  to  aid  in  disturbing  others'  peace. 

Of  course,  every  amelioration  of  war,  that  decreases  the  number 
of  persons  or  classes  who  are  expected  to  become  combatants,  or 
the  amount  of  the  property  at  risk,  is  a  great  advantage  when 
mutual;  whether  the  amelioration  be  of  sex  or  age  or  of  profes 
sions,  as  physicians  clergymen  &c. ;  so  also,  of  condition,  such  as 
sickness  or  wounds.  The  same  good  principles  call  for,  and  the 
same  good  principles  follow  from,  those  improved  laws  that 
exempt  foreign  Nations  from  interference,  and  exempt  also  the 
property,  persons  and  businesses  of  foreigners,  from  the  vicissi 
tudes  of  war.  But  this  very  amelioration  which  hails  writh  joy 
every  exemption  of  sex  or  classes,  must  condemn  neutral  Individ 
uals  interfering  with  belligerents,  unless  in  retaliation  for  similar 
interference  against  us,  that  has  not  been  compensated  for.  We 
would  increase  the  rights  of  Individuals,  but  also  increase  the 
punishment  for  admitted  transgressions.  And  any  Individuals 
transgressing  after  due  notice,  should  forfeit  their  citizenship  fop 
life,  without  chance  of  recall.  And  similarly  punished  should  be, 
all  conduct  tending  intentionally  to  excite  wars  or  insurrections 
in  other  countries.  The  citizenship  of  foreigners,  instead  of 
being  considered  as  granting  immunity  for  such  offences,  should 
be  considered  forfeited  thereby;  because  such  conduct  destroys 
the  freedom  of  all  the  citizens  of  the  oifending  country,  of  travel 
in  the  other,  and  tends  also  to  excite  war.  This  offence  is  gen 
erally  committed  by  the  naturalized  citizens  of  another  country, 
or  by  the  adherents  of  extremely  opposite  religions  or  politics ; 


AFFAIRS   IN  WAR.  285 

and  either  in  revenge  for  past  vexations,  or  in  hopes  x>f  future 
religious  or  political   power  by  annexation;  and  is  often  the 
indirect  means  of  introducing  religion  into  politics. 
§  3.    Ways  and  Means  of  War. 

Having  thus  endeavored  to  speak  for  Individual  personal 
rights,  and  protesting  that  no  methods  or  means  of  war,  which 
avowedly  and  upon  principle  violate  these  rights,  should  any 
longer  be  tolerated, — we  come  next  to  such  Ways  and  Means  as 
do  not  conflict  with  the  rights  of  Individuals. 

The  propriety  or  admissibility  of  different  war  methods,  is  not 
to  be  judged  chiefly  by  their  war-consequences,  but  by  their  peace- 
consequences.  Hence  peaceable  Nations  should  not,  by  treaty, 
resign  their  right  of  recourse  to  extraordinary  war  measures; 
because  a  reliance  in  time  of  peace,  for  recourse  to  them  in  war, 
will  promote  peace,  and  free  men  from  warlike  thoughts  and 
cares  in  common  times.  For,  in  these  days,  peace  is  the  rule, 
and  war  the  exception.  The  proper  application  of  this  principle, 
instead  of  the  usual  method  of  referring  arguments  to  war-con 
ditions,  would  make  a  great  change  in  the  international  war 
argument.  And  as  to  domestic  wars,  this  principle  aids  the  side 
of  liberty,  because  it  tends  to  lessen  the  preponderance  that  those 
who  are  in  power,  naturally  have,  over  those  who  are  out: — 
and  as  to  foreign  wars,  the  constant  reference  of  arguments  to 
times  of  peace,  promotes  the  interests  and  progress  of  Mankind. 
This  principle  of  reserved  rights,  refers  to  several  means,  for  in 
stance,  privateering,  minute-men,  ready  militia  and  guerrillas ; 
provided  the  same  be  citizens,  or  really  intend  to  be,  of  the  Na 
tion  in  whose  cause  they  are  occupied,  or  of  an  Enemy-Nation. 

Although  Privateering  need  not  be  forbidden,  it  ought  to  be 
brought  more  under  government  naval  discipline  and  control. 
This  might  be  accomplished,  by  requiring  a  government-deputy 
to  be  employed  on  each  privateer,  as  a  witness,  with  liberty  to 
protest,  and  in  desperate  cases,  to  take  away,  or  to  publish  the 
revocation  of,  the  government's  charter  and  clearance;  the  deputy 
of  course  to  be  responsible  for  his  conduct.  This  would  place  the 
commander  of  the  privateer,  on  his  own  responsibility,  if  he 
acted  against  a  protest.  A  somewhat  similar  power  is  [or  was] 
possessed  by  surgeons  in  the  British  army,  but  with  them,  it  was 
only  for  the  protection  of  their  own  men.  Sea-warfare  differs  as 


286  BK-  IIL      NATION.      II.  IV. 

much  from  land,  as  does  the  mercantile  sea-service  differ  from 
the  ordinary  land  mercantile  business,  and  must  have  a  cor 
responding  absoluteness  of  power.  Reliance  on  privateering, 
assists  peaceable  Nations  to  omit  war-cares  during  peace,  and 
this  is  of  great  importance.  So  also,  does  reliance  on  Militia, 
"  Minute  men"  and  Guerrillas. 

The  infliction  of  sufferings  on  Individuals,  or  on  collective 
bodies  of  persons,  by  way  of  retaliation, — is  contrary  to  the 
rights  of  the  fundamental  element  the  "  Individual,"  and  can 
not  be  justified,  unless,  on  the  particular  persons  who  have 
either  voluntarily  assumed  such  a  risk,  (as  for  instance,  who 
have  made  an  unconditional  surrender,  or  have  placed  them 
selves  expressly  as  hostages);  or  else  on  persons  who  have  indi 
vidually  deserved  punishment,  as  those  who  in  some  manner 
have  so  far  violated  the  usages  of  war,  that  their  lives  and  per 
sons  are  deservedly  at  the  mercy  of  the  party  who  holds  them. 
For,  the  attempt  to  justify  individually-undeserved  retaliation, 
upon  the  ground  of  the  assumed  rights  of  the  XATION,  or  upon 
any  other  ground, — can  only  be  successful,  by  also  assuming  that 
the  liability  and  chance  of  any  Individual's  suffering  such  re 
taliation,  is  one  of  the  GENERAL  chances  of  war,  foreseen  and 
voluntarily  undertaken  by  the  individual  soldier ;  but  the  fact 
is,  that  such  chances  are  not  expected  nor  undertaken  volunta 
rily,  by  the  individual  soldier,  because  such  an  infliction  does  not 
occur  to  one  soldier  in  a  hundred  thousand.  And  any  chance 
which  is  so  small  as  that,  only  operates  upon  a  very  few  of  any 
people;  and  there  will  always  be  a  large  number  remaining, 
upon  whom  it  will  not  operate.  Another  reason  why  retaliation 
should  generally  be  discontinued  is,  that  it  is  going  back  to  bar 
barism,  and  is  on  a  par  with  that  old  mode  of  warfare,  which 
bound  prisoners  to  the  stake,  and  for  the  flames,  and  spared  NOT 
the  women  and  children. 

Possibly,  retaliation  may  be  just,  when  sufficient  previous 
notice  shall  have  been  given,  that  if  such  or  such  an  outrage, 
contemplated  by  the  other  party,  should  actually  be  perpetrated, 
then  such  retaliation  shall  be  made.  In. this  case,  the  refusal  of 
the  other  party  to  refrain  from  the  outrage,  might  be  interpreted 
as  a  constructive  committal  by  them,  of  evils  as  great  as  the 
threatened  consequences  whatever  they  might  be,  and  as  a  vol- 


AFFAIRS   IN   WAR.  287 

imtaiy  assumption  of  the  responsibility  thereof.  But  even  this 
rule  can  only  apply  to  the  particular  Individuals  who  compose 
the  body  which  perpetrates  the  offence,  or  runs  the  risk, — and 
not  to  persons  who  are  entirely  free  from  such  interpretation, 
and  from  such  indirect  participation. 

Thus,  the  rule  in  regard  to  the  effects  of  war,  on  persons, 
should  be  exactly  the  reverse  of  what  it  is,  as  it  affects  prop 
erty  ;  because  property  is  NOT  an  element  of  the  ANALYTICS  of 
human  society,  and  has  no  rights  itself,  although  its  possession 
may  entitle  persons  to  rights ;  and  because  injuries  to  property 
may  easily  be  compensated  for,  but  injuries  to  persons,  of  health 
or  limb  or  life,  cannot  be. 

As  concerning  corporeal  personal  movable  property,  belonging 
to  a  citizen  of  a  belligerent,  it  belongs  in  justice  and  by  nature, 
to  the  other  party,  if  that  party  can  seize  it  without  infringing 
seriously  upon  the  rights  of  a  neutral.  A  compensation  to  the 
citizen,  from  his  own  Nation,  is  due,  if  he  can  show  conclusively 
that  he  was  acting  in  accordance  with  its  laws,  and  had  used  all 
proper  means  to  protect  his  property.  But  so  long  as  proof  of 
this  kind  is  very  difficult  to  obtain,  and,  so  long  as  Nations  do 
not  consider  themselves  bound  to  make  up  the  losses  of  their 
own  citizens,  in  such  cases, — so  long  the  growing  tendency  to 
spare  the  property  of  private  Individuals,  is  a  high  evidence  of 
Christian  progress,  although  not  a  matter  of  justice. 

But  the  difficulties  of  proof  may  be  partly  obviated,  as  fol 
lows.  A  practice  might  easily  be  introduced,  whereby  one 
enemy  would  give  to  Individuals  of  its  opposite,  as  well  as  to 
its  own  people,  certificates  of  the  value  of  supplies  taken,  or 
damage  done.  Such  certificates,  although  not  conclusive  of  the 
value,  would  be  additional  testimony  thereunto.  The  present 
rule  of  compensating  neutrals,  but  not  their  own  citizens,  and 
of  sparing  the  Enemy-Individual's  property,  but  not  their  own 
citizens', — seems  too  unreasonable  to  endure  very  permanently. 
At  any  rate,  the  belligerent  who  gives  such  certificate  judiciously 
and  sincerely,  should  be  free  from  all  further  moral  responsi 
bility,  in  the  case,  as  to  the  citizens  of  an  enemy. 

Incorporeal  and  landed  properties  are  excepted  from  absolute 
transfer  to  a  captor,  simply  because  they  cannot  be  either  carried 
away  or  destroyed. 


288  BK-  IIL    NATION.     II.  IV. 

While  speaking  of  the  ways  and  means  of  war,  we  cannot 
forbear  to  suggest  here,  the  following  improvement.  Let  Nations 
in  peace  provide  by  treaty,  where  their  battle  Localities  shall  be, 
in  case  of  war ;  just  as  Individuals  in  health  and  safety,  lay  out 
their  "  cemetery-lots."  If  possible  in  these  treaties,  let  all  com 
binations  of  war-alliances,  be  anticipated  and  provided  for,  as 
nearly  as  possible.  Let  Nations,  when  they  determine  to  in 
dulge  in  war,  give  a  certain  number  of  months'  previous  notice, 
and  then  let  them  resort  to  the  appointed  Localities,  and  confine 
the  war  therein.  In  other  words,  let  the  same  refinement  be  at 
tained  by  Nations,  that  has  been  attained  by  Individuals  in  the 
DUEL,  whereby  disputes,  instead  of  being  fought  out,  whenever 
and  wherever  occasion  or  opportunity  admitted,  to  the  disturb 
ance  and  danger  of  the  public, — are  adjourned  to  set  times  and 
places,'  where  the  injury  to  unconcerned  parties  will  be  none  at 
all,  or  at  least  a  minimum,  and,  previously  provided  against. 
§  4.  The  Rights  of  Neutrals  according  to  Localities. 

(a)  In  General.  Having  thus  treated  of  War,  firstly,  in  rela 
tion  to  the  rights  of  Individuals,  and  secondly,  in  relation  to  the 
Ways  and  Means  of  conducting  it,  so  far  as  these  do  not  inten 
tionally  conflict  with  the  rights  of  persons  or  property;  we  come, 
thirdly,  to  consider  it  in  relation  to  the  rights  of  Neutrals,  on 
their  own  and  on  common  Localities ;  so  far  as  these  rights  have 
not  been  considered  incidentally  under  the  foregoing  two  heads. 
This  part  relates  both  to  private  and  to  public  property,  and  to 
official  persons  of  Enemy-Nations ;  except  their  agents  or  am 
bassadors  accredited  to  each  other,  or  to  neutral  Nations ;  because 
such  persons,  with  their  attendants  and  property,  are  almost  uni 
versally  exempt  from  the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  war,  and  are 
not  to  be  understood  as  included  in  our  treatment  of  the  subject. 

The  rights  involved,  are  summed  up  in  two  conflicting  prin 
ciples:  one,  that  "neutrals  shall  not  interfere  in  the  war,"  the 
other,  that  belligerents  shall  not  interfere  in  the  neutral's  peace. 
These  principles  are  of  course  partly  conflicting,  hence  a  com 
promise  has  to  be  effected  between  them.  Regard  can  only  be 
given  to  principal  effects  ;  which  are  of  two  kinds :  one,  the 
principal  effect  of  any  given  circumstances  ;  the  other,  the  prin 
cipal  effect  of  a  rule  applying  to  them. 

Here  the  distinction  becomes  prominent,  between  a  Neutral 


AFFAIRS   IX  WAR.  289 

Nation  as  an  organism,  and  the  Individuals  who  compose  it. 
The  Nation  as  an  organism,  must  preserve  its  neutrality  strictly, 
and  in  every  particular ;  but  to  expect  such  an  absolute  control 
over  its  individual  citizens,  would  be  absurd,  in  this  age  of  the 
world. 

We  will  consider  first,  the  matter  of  passage  through  the  ter 
ritory  of  a  neutral ;  because  the  neutral  territory  is  analogous  to 
'the  neutral  ship  when  considered  apart  from  its  contents.  It  is 
generally  admitted  that  enemies  have  no  right  to  passage  through 
the  territory  of  a  neutral,  much  less  any  right  to  conduct  hos 
tilities  therein :  (Wheaton,  §§  426  and  427)  and,  by  modern 
writers,  it  is  coming  to  be  admitted,  that  a  neutral  has  no  right 
to  grant  permission  of  passage  to  a  belligerent.  (Dana's  note.) 
Nor  can  the  neutral  territory  be  rightly  used,  in  any  manner,  as 
the  basis  of  belligerent  operations.  But  it  should  not  follow 
from  this,  that  a  neutral  Nation  is  bound  to  oppose  such  passage, 
by  force  of  arms,  without  the  co-operation  of  other  powers,  who 
may  be  as  much  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  the  principle, 
as  itself.  Furthermore,  the  active  Individuals  of  an  enemy, 
have  no  right  to  passage  across  the  territory  of  a  neutral;  and 
their  doing  so  ought  to  be  punished  as  an  offence  tending  to 
involve  the  neutral  into  the  war  feelings,  and  hence  into  the 
war  consequences. 

The  next  question  is,  what  articles  (and  persons)  are,  and 
what  are  not,  contraband  of  war.  The  common  principle ,  is 
thus  stated  by  Dana :  (notes  to  Wheaton,  §§  505  and  501)  "  One 
cardinal  rule  is,  that  the  neutral  may  trade  with  the  enemy. 
Another  is,  that  he  shall  not  intervene  in  the  war.  The  prac 
tical  result  of  the  conflict  of  these  rules  is,  that,  in  trading  with 
the  enemy,  he  must  not  break  an  effective  blockade,  and  shall 
not  take  to  the  enemy,  merchandise  which  is  of  such  a  character 
as  to  afford  direct  military  aid,  or  which  will  help  to  relieve  or 
avert  the  pressure  of  actual  siege  or  blockade."  *  *  *  These 
various  "  considerations  have  led  to  a  practical  adjustment  of  the 
question  of  contraband,  to  the  effect,  that  the  neutral  may  carry 
merchandise  to  both  belligerent  markets,  subject  to  this  condi 
tion, — that,  if  it  be  contraband,  it  may  be  taken  from  him,  at 
sea,  and  converted  to  the  captor's  use."  *  *  *  But  "  as  to  what 
things  do  or  do  not  come  into  this  category:  The  test  is  variously 

10 


290  BK-  HI-      NATION.      II.  IV. 

described,  and  more  or  less  strictly ;  but  it  seems  to  amount  to 
this, — Is  the  primary  and  ordinary  use  of  the  article  military, 
when  in  the  enemy's  possession,  in  time  of  war  f 

But  this,  the  actual  rule,  is  both  unjust  and  unnecessary.  The 
"  primary"  use  of  the  article  in  time  of  war,  is  often  not  the  use 
in  time  of  peace;  and  then  the  rule  interferes  with  the  rights  of 
neutrals.  Again,  it  is  not  merely  the  directness  of  the  use  of  any 
article,  which  constitutes  its  importance,  but  it  is  the  special  need 
the  enemy  may  have  for  it,  and  the  special  vicissitudes  and  emer 
gencies  of  times  and  seasons,  which  of  course  constantly  vary. 

Strictly  speaking,  according  to  natural  justice,  the  belligerents 
have  no  right  to  interfere  intentionally  with  the  rights  or  in 
terests  of  neutrals  at  all :  but  the  vicissitudes  of  war  are  so 
great,  that  this  rule  cannot  be  maintained. 

In  the  vicissitudes  of  war,  opportunities  are  frequent,  wherein 
the  advantages  of  small  trade  Avith  a  neutral,  would  be  counter 
balanced  by  serious  interruption  of  the  course  of  the  war,  and 
followed  by  immense  losses  of  property  and  lives, — such,  for  in 
stance,  as  in  a  siege  or  blockade.  The  liability  of  vicissitudes 
justifies  this  rule  of  war.  But  on  the  other  hand,  the  common 
doctrine,  that  directness  of  the  utility  of  the  articles  of  trade,  for 
military  uses,  also  constitutes  the  contraband,  is  not  sound  nor 
reasonable ;  for  when  there  exists  no  special  exigency,  the  gen 
eral  injury  to  the  trade  of  neutrals  is  far  greater  than  the  ad 
vantages  to  the  belligerent.  Besides,  the  refusal  to  pass  these 
minor  articles,  so  long  as  food  and  any  kind  of  clothing  are 
allowed,  not  only  has  but  little  effect  upon  the  war,  but  it  has 
great  effect  in  producing  personal  discomfort  to  the  soldier ;  so 
that  the  rights  of  the  T^uemy-Individual,  as  well  as  the  rights 
of  neutrals,  are  needlessly  disregarded.  But  the  generally  re 
ceived  policy  is  different. 

Now,  we  shall  generalize  yet  more  completely,  if  we  under 
stand  "article"  to  include,  besides  property,  any  government 
official  person,  excepting  perhaps  a  non-combatant;  and  apply 
the  same  principles  accordingly.  This  generalization  is  sound, 
because  the  principles  involved  are  the  same,  whether  persons  or 
property  are  the  agencies  employed.  For  instance,  persons  in 
tending  to  enlist  or  engage  in  the  enemy's  service,  are  quite  as 
much  material  of  war,  as  chattels  are ;  so  also  are  persons  in- 


AFFAIRS   IN   WAR.  291 

tending  to  carry  war-material  or  dispatches,  or  to  purchase  con 
traband  materials.  The  difference  consists  chiefly  in  this,  that 
property,  when  captured,  can  be  applied  to  the  use  of  the  enemy; 
but,  usually,  Individuals  cannot  be  so  applied.  But  this  dif 
ference  is  quite  limited,  because  guides,  pilots,  surgeons,  inter 
preters,  and  even  mechanics  and  laborers,  can  \yeforced  to  apply 
themselves  to  the  indirect  uses  of  their  captors. 

We  may  now  consider  more  in  detail,  these  rights  of  neu 
trals  in  their  own  or  in  common  Localities,  under  the  following 
divisions  : — Firstly :  Of  affairs  involving  articles  and  officers 
on  the  territory  of  a  Neutral.  Secondly:  Of  affairs  involving 
articles  and  officers  on  neutral  or  common  Localities,  namely,  on 
the  high  seas. 

(6)  Affairs  in' the  Locality  of  a  Neutral.  The  generally  ac 
cepted  rule  is,  that  the  people  of  a  neutral  Nation,  in  their  trade 
with  a  belligerent,  must  not  furnish  him  with  the  particular 
articles  called  contraband,  but  may  furnish  him  with  any  other 
articles.  The  restriction  in  this  rule  ought  to  be  repealed,  for 
the  following  reasons : — It  is  impossible  to  execute.  It  causes 
irritating  interferences  in  other  governments'  affairs,  and  thus 
constantly  endangers  the  peace  of  neutral  Nations.  It  prolongs 
wars,  and  increases  their  expenses  both  of  life  and  property, 
without  altering  the  decision.  The  analogy  between  forbidding 
enlisting  soldiers,  and  purchasing  war-materials,  does  not  give  a 
sound  argument,  because  the  soldiers,  being  persons,  are  usually 
supposed  to  be  of  the  neutral  citizenship;  and  thus  the  foreign 
belligerent,  if  allowed  to  enlist  soldiers,  would  be  drawing  our 
citizens  into  ruin  and  death,  to  the  injury  of  their  Families,  and 
of  the  country  at  large.  But  the  purchase  of  materials  has  the 
opposite  effect,  stimulating  trade,  and  thus  benefiting  the  coun 
try  furnishing  the  supplies.  Hence,  the  general  rule  should  leave 
the  domestic  trade  of  every  Nation  "  free"  to  both  enemies, — for 
cash  or  bona  fide  immediate  trade,  but  not  f6r  any  form  of  credit 
to,  or  for,  mere  "  belligerents,"  and  not  for  loans,  nor  for  any 
longer  than  the  usual  mercantile  credit  to  or  for  non-belligerent 
Nations.  Because  the  extension  of  credit  is  made  to  both  the 
belligerent  Nations  equally,  and  thus  lessens  the  immediate 
effects  on  both  of  them,  and  thus  prolongs  or  stimulates  the  war, 
without  any  great  advantage  to  any  parties  concerned. 


292  BK-  in.    NATION,    ii.  iv. 

Nevertheless,  this  general  rule  ought  to  have  one  sort  of  ex 
ception/  namely,  the  export  of  war-materials,  and  of  all  the 
direct  means  of  transportation.  Instead  of  excepting  to  the 
manufacture  or  sale  of  many  articles  used  in  peace,  we  should 
except  rather  to  the  means  of  transportation,  to  either  enemy. 
In  some  cases,  the  means  would  be  freight- wagons,  horses,  oxen, 
and  so  on.  In  other  and  in  most  cases,  the  means  would  be 
boats  or  vessels.  This  exception  is  not  much  liable  to  the  ob 
jections,  the  other  was.  It  is  practicable  in  domestic  policy,  and 
does  not  cause  general  irritation.  It  is  analogous  to  the  prin 
ciple  of  export  duty;  which,  in  turn,  is  the  same  according  to 
international  principles  as  an  import  duty.  Governments  do  not 
pretend  to  inquire  into  everybody's  store,  to  tax  his  foreign 
imports,  but  tax  them  once  for  all,  at  their  entrance  into  the 
country.  The  place,  and  the  only  proper  place,  to  interfere  with 
foreign  trade  in  common  articles,  is,  at  the  importation  or  the 
exportation  of  the  commodities.  "  Rowdy"  Nations  disturbing 
the  peace  of  the  world,  ask  too  much  of  all,  when  they  demand 
that  other  Nations  shall  institute  new  legal  proceedings,  inter 
fering  with  the  course  of  their  own  internal  affairs  generally. 

Hence,  we  infer,  that  the  people  of  a  neutral  Nation,  of  right 
can  unrestrictedly  manufacture  and  sell,  except  strictly  war-mate 
rial,  and  entertain  war-officers  purchasing  materials,  £c.;  and 
that  trade  with  a  neutral  is  not  to  be  interrupted ;  so  that  the 
only  questions  with  us,  relate  to  the  transportation,  and  to  arms 
and  ammunition.  As  to  arms  and  ammunition,  which  are  the 
only  things  we  can  admit  are  strictly  war-material ;  the  duty  to 
watch  their  manufacture  and  sale,  is  no  hardship,  neither  is  it  a 
special  task  imposed  upon  neutrals  only  in  the  case  of  war,— 
because  Nations,  for  their  own  internal  peace  and  safety,  need  to 
have  constant  regard  to  such  things,  and  ought  always  to  have 
such  a  knowledge  and  registration  of  them,  as  they  have  of  all 
other  dangerous  occupations. 

Yet  our  principles  would  allow  the  foreigners  to  come  only 
into  the  few  large  markets,  on  or  near  the  borders  of  the  neutral, 
and  with  publicity  to  their  actions ;  but  would  not  allow  miscel 
laneous  travel  through. 

Again,  the  voyaging  or  departure  amust  not  be  allowed  to 
interfere  with  the  war" ;  therefore,  in  case  of  means  of  trans- 


AFFAIRS   IN  WAR.  293 

portation,  wagons,  cars,  or  other  vessels  for  either  belligerent, 
having  been  built  in  a  neutral  territory,  the  neutral  is  bound  to 
forbid  their  departure ;  then  if  they  depart  by  stealth  without 
due  clearance,  or  by  false  representations,  the  duty  of  all  Nations, 
and  particularly  of  the  neutral  escaped  from,  and  whose  "state" 
was  thus  "  ignored,"  is  to  treat  such  a  vessel  as  an  outlaw,  for 
bidding  it  entrance  into  their  ports  or  seas :  and  doubly  so,  if 
a  vessel  of  war.  Hence,  in  such  cases  as  the  Alabama,  not  only 
England,  but  all  other  neutrals  should  have  forbidden  its  en 
trance  into  their  dominions,  not  as  a  vessel  of  war  of  a  bel 
ligerent,  but  as  the  outlaw  of  a  neutral.  And  in  case  of  such 
entrance,  the  vessel  should  be  forfeited.  Such  ought  to  be 
henceforth  established  as  a  rule  in  the  Law  of  Nations.  The 
conception,  to  be  sure,  of  an  outlaw  who  is  not  a  pirate,  is  some 
what  difficult  to  get ;  but  not  any  more  difficult,  than  the  con 
ception  of  a  "  recognized  belligerent"  who  yet  is  not  a  Nation. 

(c)  Affairs  in  Common  Localities.  As  to  affairs  involving 
articles  or  officers  in  common  Localities,  and  on  the  high  seas. 
Here  comes  in  for  consideration,  the  ship.  The  ship  is  the  abode 
of  human  beings;  it  is  an  " arrondissement"  a  Precinct,  with  a 
recognized  government  of  its  own,  under  the  sanction  of  some 
recognized  Nation.  Here  are  two  complicated  questions.  The 
road  is  mutual,  but  the  vehicle  or  car,  is  of  the  one  Nation. 
The  inference  is,  that  the  principles  involved  are  exactly  the 
same,  as  those  in  the  case  of  the  Locality  of  a  neutral  on  land, 
except,  that  the  travel  must  not  be  interfered  with ;  nor  the  special 
rights  of  humanity  refused,  in  the  distresses  that  men  who  travel 
by  sea  are  particularly  liable  to.  With  these  limitations,  the 
voyaging  ship  has  no  rights  other  than  it  possessed  in  its  own 
territory.  In  other  words,  the  neutral's  voyaging  itself,  or  any 
part  thereof,  must  not  be  entitled  to  immunities  that  will  di 
rectly  aid  either  of  the  belligerents.  A  neutral,  on  board  ship, 
may  manufacture  spars  or  sails  or  guns,  if  possible,  and  may 
carry  them  to  another  neutral,  but  has  no  right  to  carry  them  to 
any  belligerent  place,  person,  or  vessel. 

But  now  comes  the  more  difficult  question  : — the  contraband 
property  which  any  neutral  sells  to  a  belligerent,  or  the  belliger 
ent  official  whom  he  entertains, — has  some  other  belligerent  a 
right  to  transport,  on  the  high  seas  ?  Of  course  not,  from  his 


294  BK-  IIL      NATION.     II.  IV. 

own,  nor  from  the  shores  of  either,  nor  to,  any  belligerent  place, 
person,  or  vessel; — but,  has  the  neutral  a  right  to  carry  such 
"article"  or  person  across  the  seas  at  all?  The  entire  denial  of 
this  right,  would  often  refuse  a  neutral  vessel  the  right  of  sail 
ing  from  one  part  of  his  own  country  to  another.  From  this 
reasoning  we  may  justly  infer,  that  Mason  and  Slide!  1  MIGHT 
have  required  to  have  been  returned  to  Nassau  "  as  they  were," 
or  else  forwarded,  so  as  to  reach  their  ultimate  destination  at  the 
time  they  would  have  reached  it,  by  LEGITIMATE  means,  if  un 
disturbed  by  a  neutral, — UNLESS,  instead  of  only  running  our 
blockade,  in  one  of  their  OWN  vessels,  they  had  come  through, 
in  a  neutral  vessel  violating  blockade,  or  had  run  through  our 
lines  or  our  country.  And  as  this  is  so,  their  case  comes  under 
that  we  treat  in  the  next  paragraph.  Because  it  has  come  to  be 
a  settled  principle  of  international  law,  that  blockade  is  nothing 
to  belligerents,  only  as  it  is  effectual  in  particular;  but  is  oblig 
atory  on  neutrals,  when  effective  in  general. 

The  case  then,  was  really  thus.  Rebel  emissaries  were  con 
stantly  embarking  on  board  foreign  steamers  from  New  York, 
and  as  soon  as  at  sea,  would  openly  insult  our  citizens,  and  glory 
over  their  success  in  getting  on  board.  Now,  all  such  persons 
(having  been  spies  in  the  United  States,  according  to  the  laws 
of  war,  and  also  being  warlike  emissaries,  and  having  obtained 
their  passage  surreptitiously),  the  foreigner  had  no  right  to  trans 
port;  neither  would  the  foreigner  have  had  right,  to  transfer 
them  to  the  United  States  authorities  for  punishment.  There 
fore,  the  officers  of  the  ship  should  have  confined  the  passage- 
takers,  to  the  vessel  until  its  return ;  and  then  sent  them  through 
the  United  States  lines  to  their  Confederate  home, — a  proceed 
ing  very  similar  to  that,  by  which  the  United  States  sent  both 
Mason  and  Slidell  to  Nassau.  The  passages  of  the  emissaries 
at  New  York,  were  obtained  by  deception;  the  capture  of  Mason 
and  Slidell  was  by/orce.  A  friend  or  neutral  has  no  more  right 
to  allow  the  deception,  after  it  becomes  known,  than  to  allow 
"the  force,  after  its  illegality  becomes  known, — to  aid  either  bel 
ligerent. 

We  may  add  to  this  thought,  the  general  rule,  that  the  more 
indirect  or  circuitous,  the  aid  rendered  by  a  neutral,  the  more 
freely,  such  aid  is  permitted  by  the  law  of  Nations.  But  this 


AFFAIRS   IN   WAR.  295 

ought  to  be  true,  only  for  the  reason  and  in  the  degree,  that  the 
circuitousness  obscures  the  true  state  of  the  case,  or  complicates 
it  with  the  relations  of  innocent  parties. 

The  Virginius,  in  the  Cuba  affair,  affords  another  instance  of 
a  dispute  settled  erroneously  by  both  parties,  and  on  principles 
which  will  not  stand  the  test  of  time. 

The  claim  of  the  United  States  amounts  to  this :  That  a  for 
eign  government  has  no  right  upon  the  high  seas  (namely  in 
common  Localities),  to  interfere  with  a  vessel  bearing  the  Amer 
ican  flag  and  American  clearances,  even  although  such  vessel 
may  have  been,  with  those  old  clearances,  engaged  for  several 
years  in  fomenting  discord  and  aiding  rebellions  in  various 
neighboring  countries ;  and  at  the  very  time  of  interference,  also 
be  engaged  in  carrying  arms  and  ammunition  to  rebels,  even 
when  their  belligerency  has  not  been  admitted ;  and  may  have 
repeatedly  escaped  capture  by  the  injured  country,  through  means 
of  false  representations  and  false  oaths,  in  foreign  ports !  And 
furthermore,  that  the  fact  of  the  said  rebels  not  being  recognized 
even  as  belligerents,  LESSENS  the  rights  of  the  injured  govern 
ment,  in  the  case!  Whereas  in  the  case  of  the  Alabama,  it 
was  the  recognized  belligerency  ALONE,  that  saved  her  from 
capture  in  or  near  neutral  ports.  And  furthermore,  that  the 
vessel  when  discovered  to  have  borne  a  flag  and  papers,  to  which 
she  had  no  right,  as  the  means  of  injuring  the  foreign  country, 
and  when  captured,  belongs,  not  to  the  injured  government,  but 
to  the  United  States,  which  had  all  the  while  fostered  the  irreg 
ularities,  and  protected  the  vessel !  And  furthermore,  that  when 
the  injured  government  might  have  redress  against  the  United 
States,  for  direct  damages,  if  any  such  could  be  proved  (which 
of  course  is  next  to  impossible  in  such  a  business) — yet  it  has  no 
redress  for  indirect  damages,  (namely  therefore  none  at  all).  And 
finally  that. the  assent  (although  only  after  persistent  objection),  to 
these  principles,  by  a  very  weak  power,  under  threats  of  imme 
diate  war  or  reprisal,  and  of  taking  territory  of  immense  value, 
from  the  weak  and  injured  government, — that  such  assent  is 
proof  of  a  principle  of  international  law !  The  whole  conclu 
sion  is  so  improper  as  ought  not  to  need  any  argument. 

It  must  be  admitted,  that  Spain,  in  her  hasty  execution  of  the 
men  engaged,  violated  the  rights  (not  of  American  citizenship, 


296  BK-  m-    CATION,    ii.  iv. 

because  the  Virginias  crew,  according  to  our  theory,  had  for 
feited  those  rights),  but  had  violated  the  rights  of  HUMANITY 
and  of  just  international  law;  but  this  gives  to  the  United 
States  government  no  more  than  to  any  other  government,  the 
right  to  punish  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  humanity.  And 
yet  the  United  States  government  takes  those  men  to  its  bosom, 
and  the  people  publicly  honor  them,  just  as  England  treated  the 
"  confederates''  against  the  United  States.  Although  the  offem  e 
being  political,  cannot  be  punished  or  recognized  by  foreign  gov 
ernments  in  their  Localities.  But  the  case  is  diiferent  in  common 
Localities,  for  in  them  one  Nation  has  as  much  right  as  another. 

Now  the  truth  is,  that  all  the  question  relative  to  the  right  of 
the  vessel  to  bear  any  national  flag  and  its  papers,  in  injuring 
another  government,  is  just  as  much  (or  more  so)  a  question  for 
decision  by  the  injured  government,  as  by  the  one  whose  flag 
and  papers  are  falsely  assumed — And  in  disputed  cases,  belongs 
to  neutral  Nations  to  decide ;  either  by  diplomatic  notices,  as 
when  the  foreign  ministers  at  Washington  notified  our  govern 
ment,  that  the  execution  of  the  Confederate  privateers  as  pirates 
would  be  held  as  a  public  outrage ;  or  by  arbitration. 

The  real  motives  of  our  government  thus  treating  Spain  about 
the  matter  were: — first,  our  sympathies  were  with  and  for  the 
Cuban  rebels,  and  the  other  rebels  whom  the  Virginius  had  aided, 
although  Spain  was  a  republic  itself  at  the  time ;  second,  our 
desire  to  get  Cuba,  and  all  other  territory  we  can  get  near  us ; 
third,  a  truckling  to  the  popular  impulse  that  burst  out,  when 
the  news  of  the  capture  and  proceedings  were  first  received. 
Alas  our  government  is  in  danger  of  doing  as  republican  France 
did  in  her  revolution  of  "'89",  namely,  allowing  popular  clamors 
tO  drive  us  into  the  violation  of  international  law,  and  thus 
stirring  up  all  Nations  against  us.  But  in  the  case  of  the  Vir 
ginius,  democratic  republicanism  overreached  itself,- and  seems 
to  have  caused  the  downfall  of  Castelar,  and  of  our  struggling 
sister  republic  of  Spain. 

The  growing  principle  of  international  law,  that  more  and 
more  exempts  neutral  Nations  from  the  effects  of  war,  ought 
justly  to  be  so  applied  as  to  exempt,  not  only  from  interference 
by  the  Enemy-Nations,  but  also  from  all  entanglements  therein  by 
private  Individuals,  who  undertake  to  aid  either  of  the  belliger- 


THE   DOCTRINE   OF   NATURALIZATION.  297 

ents.  In  other  words,  the  privileges  and  legal  opportunities  of 
private  Individuals,  to  entangle  their  neutral  countries  into  war 
or  war-complications,  must  decrease  equally  with  the  decrease  of 
the  privileges  of  Enemy-Nations  to  interfere  with  neutrals ;  and 
then,  Individuals  who  interfere  with  the  war-affairs  of  other 
Nations,  must  be  allowed  to  do  so  at  their  own  risk,  clear  alike 
from  punishment  as  outlaws  or  pirates  by  neutrals,  and  clear 
also  from  their  protection ;  and  their  country,  clear  of  all  respon 
sibility  for  them.  In  short,  neutral  Nations  must  not  be  easily 
disturbed,  either  by  Enemy-Nations,  nor  by  belligerent  dynasties, 
nor  by  the  individual  abettors  of  any  of  them.  Still,  humanity 
and  Mankind  must  be  heard,  in  limiting  the  punishment  of  polit 
ical  offenders,  within  the  bounds  of  civilization  and  Christianity ; 
as  also  of  all  other  offenders. 

CHAP.  V.     CONCLUSION   OF   INTERNATIONAL   LAW. 

This  subject,  namely,  international  law,  is  connected  with  that 
of  Universal  Empire,  and  of  Races,  and  of  the  influence  of  Chris 
tians  and  of  Christianity ;  and  hence,  should  be  finished  under 
the  head  of  Mankind ;  not,  indeed,  in  any  one  part  especially, 
but  in  various  connections. 


PART    III. 

• 

THE   DOCTRINE   OF   NATURALIZATION. 
CHAP.  I.      CLASSIFICATIONS. 

This  subject  is  generally  treated  as  a, part  of  International 
law :  but  with  us  it  has  to  take  a  wider  range  of  discussion.  Its 
place  of  consideration  under  that  head,  and  one  or  two  general 
principles  of  it,  are  there  given.  (See  II.  II.  5). 

Naturalization  may  be  defined  to  be  the  transfer  of  personal 
nationality,  from  one  Nation  to  another.  It  is  a  subject  which 
cannot  be  fairly  nor  fully  understood,  without  referring  to  the 
Nation  itself  as  one  of  the  great'  fundamental  Units  of  human 
society:  otherwise,  the  lengthy  consideration  of  the  subject, 
would  belong  to  the  division  of  "  Civil  Government"  rather  than 
to  this  place.  Much  that  has  been  said  above,  can  readily  be 


298  BK-  nl-      NATION.      III.  II. 

brought  to  bear  upon  this  subject,  but  is  left  to  the  reader's  own 
ingenuity  and  reflection. 

Naturalization  has  been  divided  into  COLLECTIVE  and  INDI 
VIDUAL. 

CHAP.  II.     COLLECTIVE   NATURALIZATION. 

Collective  Naturalization,  namely,  the  naturalization  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  whole  of  any  given  territory,  takes  place 
usually  when  any  territory  becomes  transferred  from  one  gov 
ernment  to  another.  And  if  the  transfer  is  made  with  the 
voluntary  co-operation  or  concurrence  of  the  inhabitants,  it 
generally  accomplishes  the  transfer  of  a  full  and  equal  citizen 
ship,  without  even  those  special  reserves  that  are  usually  made 
in  case  of  Individual-naturalization ;  such  exceptions,  for  in 
stance,  as  not  being  allowed  the  possibilities  of  becoming  a 
member  of  parliament,  or  privy  council  in  England ;  or  of  be 
coming  President  or  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

This  transfer  of  full  and  equal  citizenship,  along  with  the 
comparatively  small  territory  or  district,  that  is  separated  from 
one  Nation  and  joined  to  another, — being  founded  in  justice, 
and  in  a  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  on  the  feelings  of 
birthplace,  home,  &c., — is  an  incidental  but  strong  argument  in 
favor  of  our  Precinct-theory.  Because  it  shows,  that  history  and 
international  law,  regard  and  treat  the  human  feelings  for,  and 
attachments  to,  the  immediate  Locality  of  one's  birth  and  home; 
as  being  superior  to,  and  more  reliable  than,  the  more  general 
Locality  of  one's  native  Nation.  In  fact,  this  argument  be 
longs  more  properly  under  the  head  of  PRECINCT,  than  under 
Nation. 

In  the  transfer  of  Alsace,  we  have  lately  seen  a  pre-eminent 
instance  of  the  superiority  of  Precinct-attachments  to  National 
ones :  Because  there,  a  people  who  had  originally  been  part  of 
Germany,  but  conquered  and  retained  by  France,  some  centuries, 
then  when  re-conquered  by  Germany,  demonstrated  the  utmost 
aversion  to  returning  to  it. 

Collective  naturalization  is  generally  provided  for  fully  by 
treaty,  although  it  could  equally  as  fully  be  accomplished  by 
conquest,  or  by  secession ;  since  all  that  is  really  needed,  is  the 
concurrence  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  territory  Avhose  allegiance 
becomes  changed.  And  such  a  transfer  is  evidently  more  effec- 


COLLECTIVE    NATURALIZATION.  299 

tual  by  a  secession,  or  an  accepted  conquest,  than  by  a  transfer 
between  superior  powers,  which  might  be  more  or  less  against 
the  will  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  transferred  territory. 

Collective  naturalization  might  better  be  divided  thus : — that 
which  takes  place  by  the  annexation  of  new  territory ;  and  that 
which  takes  place  by  the  recognition  of  classes  of  denizens  who 
had  not  previously  been  citizens.  But  both  these  subdivisions 
of  collective  naturalization,  depend  mainly,  on  the  same  prin 
ciples  of  morality  and  right  as  does  Individual-naturalization, 
except,  that  the  attempt  to  obtain  special  proofs  of  individual- 
character,  is  not  made,  nor  any  special  oaths  or  promises  obtained. 
There  is  also  another,  and  even  more  important  difference,  in 
the  case  of  annexing  new  territory.  For  in  such  cases,  which 
ever  way  the  territory  goes,  so  also  go  the  feelings  of  birthplace, 
home,  &c.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  annexation  has  been 
produced  by  conquest,  the  evils  and  dangers  of  naturalization 
are  greater,  and  the  subject  more  difficult.  With  these  and 
similar  modifications,  the  PRINCIPLES  involved  in  the  whole 
subject,  will  be  sufficiently  discussed  under  the  subject  of  Indi 
vidual  Naturalization, — as  we  soon  propose  to  do.  But  as  far 
as  we  are  correct  on  the  point,  that  for  the  annexation  of  new 
territory,  collective  naturalization  depends  largely  on  the  same 
principles  as  Individual,  our  theory  tends  to  discourage  such 
annexation ;  unless  of  territory  where  the  inhabitants  are  already 
nearly  similar  to  ourselves,  in  moral  and  intellectual  condition  ; 
or  are  acknowledged  so  far' inferior,  as  to  consent  to  and  produce, 
a  territorial  government  over  them  by  the  superior  ;  to  be  able 
and  willing  to  do  the  latter  of  which,  is  one  of  the  great  needs 
of  the  United-'States-government.  Otherwise  it  is  hard  to  see 
how  we  can  deal  safely  with  the  Indian  problem,  or  with  the 
Monroe-doctrine ;  which  latter,  even  if  fully  assented  to  by  Eu 
ropean  powers,  is  threatening  this  country  with  great  difficulties 
in  the  future, — practical  difficulties,  of  how  to  deal  with  peoples 
who  cannot  govern  themselves,  who  need  and  want  our  protec 
tion  and  police  over  them ;  but  yet  are,  for  those  very  reasons, 
unfit  to  enjoy  the  full  rights  of  American  citizenship,  and  whose 
overwhelming  numbers,  if  equal  voters,  would  first  be  a  balance 
between  all  parties,  and  then,  the  ruling  party  themselves. 


300  BK-  IIL      NATION.      III.  III. 

CHAP.  III.    INDIVIDUAL-NATURALIZATION. 

An  Individual  may  obtain  naturalization,  either  by  conform 
ing  to  some  general  law,  or  by  special  grant  of  the  government. 
But  we  will  consider  the  subject  in  relation :  first,  to  the  rights 
of  the  Individual  human  being;  second,  to  the  rights  of  the 
Nation  renounced;  and  third,  to  the  rights  of  the  Nation  adopt 
ing  (or,  as  the  phrase  is,  "  the  adoptive  Nation/')  And  we  wish 
all  the  principles  here  exhibited  on  this  topic,  to  be  understood 
generally,  and  as  equally  applicable  to  change  of  citizenship  from 
Precinct  to  Precinct,  under  the  reformed  constitution  we  have 
proposed,  as  to  change  from  Nation  to  Nation.  But  whilst  the 
same  principles  are  applicable,  they  must  yet  be  modified  in 
their  application,  to  suit  the  altered  circumstances.  The  double 
value  of  the  principles  thus  treated,  must  be  our  excuse  for  some 
things  that  might  otherwise  seem  unpatriotic,  in  this  "Part  III." 
of  this  article;  and  for  giving  undue  length  and  prominence 
to  a  subject,  which  for  the  Nation  has  already  been  settled  by 
history,  and  seems  out  of  date. 

§  1.   The  Rights  of  the  Individual. 

The  abstract  right  of  an  Individual,  to  change  his  nation 
ality,  and  to  remove  from  a  country  where  he  is  not  happy,  to  a 
country  where  he  thinks  he  will  be  so, — cannot  reasonably  be 
denied.  But  yet  there  are  many  conditions  to  which  he  may 
be  bound  to  subject  himself,-  in  making  the  transfer.  All  the 
reasonable  claims  of  his  native  country  and  of  its  citizens,  upon 
him,  for  any  proper  length  of  time,  ought  to  be  granted  first. 
But  what  standard  is  to  be  used,  to  judge  of  the  reasonableness 
of  the  claims?  Not  that  alone  of  the  government  and  people 
about  to  be  renounced,  nor  that  alone  of  the  people  or  govern 
ment  about  to  be  adopted  and  rc-inforced.  Therefore  the 
standard  must  be  one  which  might  be  considered  a  sort  of  com 
promise  between  the  two  parties ;  and  the  judgment  rendered, 
should  be  one  which  we  would  suppose  would  be  given  accord 
ing  to  that  standard,  by  impartial  persons,  that  is,  by  arbitrators 
or  referees,  being  persons  or  Nations  who  fulfilled  an  interme 
diate  character  between  the  others,  and  who  were  so  for  removed 
from  the  scene  of  action  as  to  be  entirely  disinterested.  This 
rule  is  of  course  partly  ideal,  because  the  actual  judges  are  pri- 


INDIVIDUAL   NATURALIZATION.  301 

marily  the  two  peoples  and  governments  who  are  directly  inter 
ested  in  any  given  case.  But  the  rule  is  an  ideal,  suggesting  to 
both  parties  in  a  dispute,  what  kind  of  a  standard  they  ought  to 
adopt,  and  what  kind  of  a  judgment  they  ought  to  render; 
always  deferring  to  the  maxim  of  the  Chief  Ruler,  "  Do  unto 
others  as  you  would  they  should  dp  unto  you/7  with  this  natural 
limitation,  namely, — so  long  as  the  other  Nation  will  do  so  to 
you. 

Another  moral  principle  tending  to  illustrate  this  part  of  the 
subject,  is  this :  Every  innocent  Individual  has  a  right  to  live 
somewhere.  The  Nation  of  his  birth  has  no  right  to  expatriate 
him,  without  providing  some  other  reasonable  home.  And  this 
brings  up  the  still  more  general  proposition,  that  in  the  last 
resort  for  principles,  every  human  being  has  a  right  to  reside 
among  the  people  whom  he  most  resembles,  taking  into  consid 
eration  all  his  characteristics,  physical,  metaphysical,  and  moral. 
This,  we  theorize,  is  a  still  more  general  principle  than  even 
birth  itself;  and  at  all  events,  is  the  only  fundamental  principle 
of  direct  application,  when  once  the  operation  of  the  law  of 
birth  is  laid  aside.  And  the  practical  standards  and  rules  for 
deciding  in  particular  cases,  are  the  same  as  those  just  above 
mentioned,  namely,  Compromise,  Fraternal  Equality,  and  the 
Condition  of  Mutuality. 

And  these  principles  are  true,  and  the  freedom  demanded  is 
just  and  necessary,  on  the  ground  of  the  rights  of  the  IJSTDI- 
VIDUAL  UNIT;  and  equally  as  true  or  more  so,  in  time  of 
war,  as  or  than  in  time  of  peace.  And  the  only  exception,  or 
limitation  to  the  right  of  free  emigration  in  war  LESS  THAN 
in  peace,  would  be,  that  the  emigrant  should  not  remove  to  the 
ENEMY-NATION;  but  might,  to  any  other  one  he  pleased,  that 
appeared  to  be  a  suitable  one,  and  to  which  he  seemed  to  desire 
to  go  in  good  faith  there  to  abide. 

But  this  principle  is  not  to  interrupt  any  rights  of  a  native 
country,  which  are  valid  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war.  Of  which 
we  speak  next. 

§  2.  The  Eights  of  the  Renounced  Nation. 

"  Mr.  Wheaton,  while  Minister  at  Berlin,"  stated  one  of  the 
true  and  fair  principles  of  naturalization,  when  he  "  declined  to 
interfere  to  protect  from  military  service,  a  Prussian  subject  who 


302  BK-  ni.    NATION,    in.  in. 

had  been  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  but  had  returned  to 
Prussia.  Mr.  Wheaton  said  to  him :  "  Had  you  remained  in 
the  United  States,  or  visited  any  foreign  country  EXCEPT  PRUS 
SIA,  on  your  lawful  business,  you  would  have  been  protected  by 
the  American  authorities,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  your  rights  and  privileges  as  a  naturalized  citizen  of  the 
United  States.  But,  having  returned  to  the  country  of  your 
birth,  your  native  domicile  and  national  character  REVERT,  so 
long  as  you  remain  in  the  Prussian  dominions;  and  ypu  are 
bound  in  all  respects  to  obey  the  laws  exactly  as  if  you  had 
never  emigrated.77  Dana's  note,  §  86. 

The  reason  of  the  justice  of  such  a  decision  is,  that  the  con 
trary  rule  might  easily  be  so  employed  as  to  seriously  impair 
national  rights.  Because,  when  a  citizen  returns  to  his  native 
country,  he  has  its  accent,  its  manners,  and  its  personal  relation 
ships  ;  all  of  which  tend  both  to  bind  him  thereunto  in  feeling, 
and  also  tend  to  prevent  the  national  authorities  from  distin 
guishing  such  foreigners  from  citizens.  If  returning  to  their 
native  country  were  indulged  in  by  large  numbers  of  foreigners 
of  that  kind,  a  country  would  have  scarcely  any  escape  from  re 
quiring,  at  every  important  crisis,  tests  of  allegiance  from  ALL 
its  inhabitants — an  almost  endless  task,  as  also  very  expensive 
and  very  unsatisfactory.  The  only  easy  plan  to  allow  self- 
expatriated  foreigners  to  return  as  the  citizens  of  another  Na 
tion,  would  be,  for  the  original  country  to  command  methods 
whereby  every  such  person,  immediately  on  his  return,  should 
register  himself  as  such,  in  some  Locality,  arid  confine  himself 
thereto. 

Leaving  one's  country  and  changing  citizenship,  is  something 
like  a  woman's  leaving  her  husband,  and  afterwards  marrying 
another;  and  if  the  leaving  was  FOR  GOOD  CAUSE,  the  new 
husband  would  still  naturally  be  averse  to  having  his  wife  re 
turning  to  friendship  with  the  former  husband,  however  willing 
he  might  be  for  her  to  form  friendships  with  other  men. 

If  the  past  disorders  are  not  abandoned,  foreign  Nations 
may,  at  last,  be  driven  to  absolutely  forbid  their  self-expatriated 
citizens  from  ever  returning ;  or  forbid  their  original  departure, 
either  entirely,  or  until  they  have  taken  oaths  and  given  security, 
not  to  return.  Or  our  policy  of  forcing  our  ideas  of  nationality 


INDIVIDUAL   NATURALIZATION.  3Q3 

on  other  governments,  and  thereby  provoking  their  secret  ani 
mosity,  may,  some  day,  by  the  aid  of  our  internal  dissensions, 
have  very  disastrous  consequences. 

The  plea  by  which  the  United-States-government  endeavors 
to  repudiate  these  sound  principles,  and  to  deny  that  nationality 
reverts  to  a  foreigner  upon  revisiting  his  native  country,  is,  that 
the  general  claims  of  foreign  Nations  under  general  laws,  are  of 
no  application, — and  that  only  when  the  claims  have  become 
individualized,  so  as  to  call  for,  and  to  apply  to  the  immediate 
duty  of,  the  Individual, — do  they  have  international  force.  But 
this  is  merely  ignoring  the  foreign  system  altogether.  True,  the 
writer's  private  theory,  claims,  that  no  government  has  a  right 
to  forbid  its  citizens  to  remove  to  another  country ;  but  neither 
international  law,  nor  the  United-States-government,  acknowl 
edges  this  principle.  And  our  government  has  no  right  to  act 
upon  it  on  one  side  of  the  question  and  not  on  the  other. 

The  foreign  system  giving  us  trouble  in  this  respect,  may  be 
compared  with  our  own  system  thus.  The  foreign,  instead  of 
drafting  men  from  its  mass  for  military  service,  only  during 
war, — designates  a  certain  proportion  of  its  young  men  for  an 
nual  discipline,  and  to  be  called  out  first  in  case  of  war.  Now 
if  we,  every  few  years,  were  to  draft  a  portion  of  our  people  for 
such  purposes,  we  would  then  have  a  class  of  citizens  for,  and  a 
method  of  comparison  with  the  foreign  ones.  In  times  of  war, 
there  have  generally  been  formed  in  the  United  States,  bodies 
of  volunteers  called  "  minute  men,"  "  home  guards,"  &c.  Such 
bodies  of  men  resemble  young  foreigners  in  their  own  country, 
except  in  the  variable  matter  of  having  volunteered.  The  two 
systems  are  entirely  different ;  and  our  decisions  and  policy  pre 
sumptuously  violate  the  foreign  internal  classification  of  citizens, 
instead  of  only  attempting  to  have  it  modified  reasonably,  by 
equitable  limitations. 

But  we  may  conduct  this  discussion  of  the  rights  of  the  Na 
tion  renounced,  by  a  resort  to  higher  grounds.  Now,  when  we 
bear  in  mind  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  national  inde 
pendence, — that  between  Nations,  the  simplest  reciprocities  of 
justice  require  previous  treaty  stipulations,  and  that  the  return 
of  an  escaped  slave,  even  between  Precincts  (states)  of  the  same 
Nation,  requires  constitutional  provis:  n ;  we  infer  at  once  that 


304  BK-  HI-      NATION.      III.  III. 

when  an  Individual  escapes  or  removes  to  another  government, 
the  government  abandoned  has  naturally  no  further  national 
rights  over  him.  Now,  only  apply  this  same  principle  to  the 
reverse  case,  and  the  question  of  naturalization  would  be  at  least 
half  settled.  Only  say,  that  the  actual  migration  from  and 
leaving  of  one's  adoptive  country,  and  entrance  into  the  former, 
release  a  person  from  the  protection,  as  well  as  from  the  claims, 
of  the  last  country  left;  and  hold-to  the  principle, — and  the 
question  is  half  settled.  Certainly,  if  leaving  one's  native 
country  is  an  avoidance  of  the  laws,  then  a  return  to  that 
country  is  a  revival  of  its  laws. 

In  fact,  the  question  may  be  argued  on  still  broader  grounds, 
and  without  reference  to  any  previous  naturalization.  It  may 
be  maintained  theoretically  in  general,  that  if  leaving  one's 
country,  whether  native  or  adoptive  country,  is  a  virtual  for 
saking  of  its  claims,  so  therefore  it  must  be  a  virtual  forsaking 
of  its  protection ;  unless  there  are  treaty  stipulations  to  the  con 
trary.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  leaving  a  country  is  an 
escape  from  its  laws,  so  therefore  a  voluntary  and  Individual 
entrance  into  a  country,  is  theoretically  a  submission  to  or  ac 
ceptance  of  its  laws.  And  if  there  are  any  just  exceptions  to 
these  principles,  let  them  be  considered  and  settled  as  exceptions; 
but  let  not  the  universal  principles  of  justice  and  fairness,  be 
perverted,  to  excuse  the  exceptional  cases.  If  the  highly  civil 
ized  Nations  of  Europe,  claim  the  right  for  their  citizens  to 
reside  and  trade  in  the  barbarous  countries  of  Asia  and  Africa, 
yet  without  subjecting  those  citizens  to  the  barbarous  and  super 
stitious  laws  and  customs  of  such  degraded  peoples ;  let  it  be 
SAID  so,  at  least  to  ourselves  scientifically ;  and  let  not  the  great 
laws  of  Mankind  or  of  equality,  be  perverted.  And  again,  if 
Democracies  and  Republics  are  going  to  claim  as  much  supe 
riority  of  rights,  over  Kingdoms  and  Empires,  as  civilized  Na 
tions  claim  over  the  uncivilized,  or  the  half-civilized  ones,  let 
that  claim  also  be  scientifically  expressed ;  and  let  the  inside 
world  of  our  own  citizens  know,  that  if  the  Nations  of  Europe 
are  jealous  of  us,  they  are  so,  in  consequence  of  the  direct 
avowals  of  some  of  our  leading  men,  and  of  the  long  continued 
aggressive  policy  of  our  national  government :  and,  a  change  of 
our  policy  would  soon  allay  their  jealousy. 


INDIVIDUAL   NATURALIZATION.  305 

It  is  strange,  and  wonderfully  inconsistent,  that  a  people  who 
have  such  strong  and  centralizing  views  of  nationality,  as  those 
of  the  United  States,  should  have  such  loose  views  of  the  trans 
fer  of  citizenship  from  one  Nation  to  another.  It  is  a  subject 
by  which,  more  than  by  any  other,  in  this  era  of  the  world,  our 
foreign  relations  are  liable  to  be  disturbed,  and  universal  war 
and  disorder,  provoked. 

The  theory  and  decisions  of  the  United  States  government,  so 
far  as  they  have  been  developed,  until  after  the  great  rebellion, 
were  peculiarly  selfish  and  one-sided,  in  regard  to  alienism  or 
expatriation.  Thus,  the  right  of  an  American-born  citizen  to 
become  naturalized  into  any  foreign  government,  had  been  de 
nied  by  us,  whilst  the  right  of  the  citizens  of  all  foreign  gov 
ernments,  to  leave  their  own  countries  and  become  naturalized 
in  the  United  States,  had  been  fiercely  maintained.  Yet  the 
right  had  even  been  conceded,  of  a  foreigner  once  naturalized  in 
the  United  States,  to  renounce  and  again  become  a  citizen  of  his 
native  government.  And  the  whole  set  of  our  laws  on  the  sub 
ject,  was  evidently  intended  to  allow  and  encourage  the  greatest, 
possible  amount  of  seduction  of  the  citizens  of  other  govern 
ments,  away  from  them,  together  with  the  minimum  of  desertion 
from  our  own ;  and  without  regard  to  consistency  or  national 
equality.  That  our  policy  was  clearly  demagogic,  and  tended  to 
incite  disturbance  throughout  the  world,  is  fully  proved  by  the. 
fact  that  when  the  very  foreigners  whom  we  had  received  as 
citizens,  and  upon  oaths  of  allegiance  abjuring  all  attachments  to 
foreign  governments,  departed  from  us,  to  incite  or  participate 
in  the  struggles  of  their  native  countries,  we  still  retained  over 
them  the  fostering  and  protecting  care  of  our  flag,  and  thus  in 
directly  excited  and  stimulated  them  to  foreign  aggressions. 
But  this  was  one-sided ;  for  a  citizen  who  proves  by  his  acts, 
that  his  warmest  political  affections  are  still  in  and  towards  his 
native  country,  thus  proves  that  in  heart  he  has  not  become 
truly  naturalized-out  from  the  land  of  his  birth.  The  proper 
course  for  our  government  to  take,  is  to  openly  and  fully  warn 
our  citizens,  that  interference  with  the  affairs  of  other  govern 
ments,  will  be  taken  as  the  virtual  renunciation  of  citizenship 
in  the  United  States ;  and  if  any  difference,  this  interpretation 
will  be  more  surely  given  to  acts  of  foreigners  returning  to  their 

20 


306  BK-  IIL    NATION,    in.  in. 

native  lands  and  interfering  there,  than  in  regard  to  any  other 
kinds  of  interference ;  on  the  principle  that  return  revives  citi 
zenship  there.  And  these  warnings  should  be  repeated,  and  re- 
published  thoroughly,  when  circumstances  seemed  to  call  for 
them  ;  and  then,  if  our  Individuals  would  persist  in  interfering 
with  other  countries,  and  in  efforts  and  tendencies  to  embroil  us 
in  foreign  disturbances,  then  we  had  no  more  care  for  them  than 
any  other  neutrals  had  ;  and  the  consequences  of  such  expatria 
tion,  should  be  allowed  to  fall  upon  those  who  so  persistently 
bravadoed  all  the  Nations  interested,  subject  only  to  the  claims 
of  common  pity  and  humanity.  The  whole  principle  of  our 
past  conduct,  reminds  one  of  the  course  taken  by  the  French 
Republic  of  1789,  which  ended  in  stirring  up  all  Europe  against 
it.  The  only  supremacy  which  can  be  granted  by  international 
law,  to  one  government  or  people,  over  others,  is  a  supremacy 
founded  upon  intellect  controlled  by  morality  and  goodness;  and 
only  that  kind  of  supremacy  will  ultimately  prevail :  and  that  iy 
a  s  i  remacy  which  will  come  about  more  by  general  consent, 
than  by  force  or  threats. 

Since  the  <r  eat  rebellion  of  ' 6 1-6 5,  we  have,  to  be  sure,  seen 
that  our  policy  was  to  amend  our  principles,  but  the  amending 
has  only  been  of  the  theory  chiefly,  and  not  much,  if  any,  of  our 
pract V(-s.  Tut  since  England  has  settled  the  Alabama  claims 
liberally  and  promptly,  and  is  treating  us  fraternally  in  the 
affair  of  ou:1  centenni  i! ;  it  is  time  for  us  to  let  our  old  enmity 
against  her  drop  forever. 

§  3.   The  Ilights  of  the  Adoptive  Nation. 

We  may  sa  ,  in  general,  that  although  our  theory  utterly  de 
nies  the  right  of  what  our  government  did  during  the  rebellion  ; 
namely,  denie  th  right  of  a  national  government  to  forbid  the 
departure  of  its  citizens,  yet  it  by  no  means  forbids  Nations  the 
right  of  discretion,  as  to  the  reception  or  refusal  of  immigrants. 
For  instance,  compare  the  Nation  with  the  Individual  Unit. 
An  Individual  has  liberty  to  go  where  he  pleases,  although  he 
has  no  right  to  intrude  into  the  company  of  those  who  do  not 
want  him.  But  this  restriction  is  counteracted  by  the  rights  of 
another  unit,  namely,  Mankind.  For,  where  populat  on  is  in 
excess  of  the  capacity  of  the  land  to  sustain  it,  and  whilst  there 
are  immense  territories  of  other  Nations  uninhabited,  it  certainly 


INDIVIDUAL   NATURALIZATION.  3Q7 

is  the  duty  of  some  of  those  Nations,  to  receive  the  immigrants. 
But  whose  duty  is  it?  We  answer,  that  treating  the  question 
now  as  a  moral  one,  we  are  to  consider  not  only  the  extent  of 
uninhabited  territory,  nor  the  abundance  of  its  wealth  and  pro 
ductions  ;  neither  are  we  to  consider  only  the  choice  of  the  immi 
grants,  when  that  choice  depends  merely  on  the  consequences  of 
such  things  as  cheap  land  and  high  wages ;  but  we  are  to  con 
sider  moral  and  intellectual  relations.  So  that  the  duty  of  re 
ceiving  the  immigrants,  will  devolve  upon  that  Nation  which, 
having  the  most  ability  to  do  it,  is  yet  nearest  like  them  in  intel 
lectual,  moral  and  religious  character.  This  principle  may  be 
modified  to  favor  the  reception  of  such  classes  of  persons  as  are 
scarcely  fit  in  morals  and  intellectuality, — the  better,  when  such 
persons  are  of  a  mild  and  peaceful  and  obedient  disposition,  so 
that  they  will  readily  place  themselves  under  the  guidance  of 
their  adopted  country.  For,  among  Nations  as  well  as  among 
Individuals,  self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature.  And 
no  theory  in  this  case  can  be  more  unreasonable,  than  the  suppo 
sition  that  everybody  has  a  right  to  go  everywhere,  and  exer 
cise  political  supremacy,  and  the  consequent  powers  of  governing 
others  ox  THEIR  native  soil.  And  on  the  other  hand,  the  right 
of  the  immigrants  to  be  free  from  imposition  or  tyranny  of 
their  adoptive  country,  is  involved  in  the  necessity  and  the  fact 
of  their  coming,  and  in  the  duty  of  the  other  party  to  receive 
them. 

Now  here  is  another  place  where  our  Precinct  and  Corpora 
tion  theories  come  in  so  admirably.  In  order  then,  to  secure  the 
rights  of  all  parties,  probably  the  most  satisfactory  plan  would 
be,  for  immigrants  to  be  allowed  to  form  their  own  Corporations, 
for  their  own  government  and  rule,  without  control  over,  or 
even  without  the  ordinary  subjection  of  their  internal  personal 
affairs  to,  the  government  of  the  adoptive  country.  The  feasi 
bility  of  this  will  be  deducible  from  our  general  principles  of 
Corporation,  although  no  special  allusion  need  be  made  to  it 
there. 

But  the  Precinct-system  offers  really  the  most  perfect  and  best 
plan,  for  foreigners  to  enjoy  their  own  rights  customs  and  reli 
gion,  -with  the  least  amount  of  interference  with  those  of  other 
persons,  or,  of  the  adoptive  Nation  itself.  But  inasmuch  as  it  is 


308  BK-  IIL      NATION.      III.  III. 

sometimes  inconvenient,  the  Corporation-system  would  give  the 
most  general  satisfaction  to  them.  Yet  both  systems  can  be  em 
ployed,  some  in  some  cases,  and  some  in  others.  But  the  Pre 
cinct-system  is  most  effectual,  both  for  releasing  minorities  from 
the  power  of  majorities,  and  also  for  releasing  majorities  from 
control  by  turbulent  and  cabalistic  cliques.  And  the  same  prin 
ciple  applies  to  keeping  up  the  distinctions  between  Nations ; 
that  is,  avoiding  too  much  mixing  of  utterly  heterogeneous 
elements. 

§  4.  Personal  Conditions. 

\a)  In  General.  We  have  already  considered  in  part,  the 
rights  of  the  adoptive  Nation,  by  comparing  them  with  the  rights 
of  the  Nation  renounced.  The  remainder  of  this  part  of  the 
subject,  embraces  the  reasons  for  requiring  important  conditions 
of  naturalization.  These  may  be  comprised  in  two  divisions. 
One,  is,  to  prevent  errors  that  may  arise  out  of  the  changed  rela 
tions.  The  other,  is,  to  procure  and  prove  real  fitness  for  the 
transfer  to  the  new  nationality.  The  means  relied  upon  in  the 
United  States  to  accomplish  these  two  objects,  are,  Length  of 
residence,  Oath  of  allegiance,  and  Legal  Registration  under  Judi 
cial  sanction.  Something  is  said  about  good  moral  character, 
but  nothing  is  really  done  about  that  qualification,  except  in  case 
of  having  been  publicly  convicted  and  imprisoned  lately  for  fel 
ony.  Some  of  these  questions  will  come  up  again  for  a  little 
consideration,  under  the  head  of  Qualification  of  Voters,  in 
"  Selections,"  under  "  Civil  Government,"  and  such  of  them  as 
should  come  up  there,  are  omitted  here. 

(b)  As  to  Preventing  Errors.     The  naturalization  laws  of  the 
United  States  are  entirely  right,  in  accounting  that  the  citizen 
ship  of  a  husband,  of  itself)  naturalizes  the  wife ;    but  this  is 
the  opposite  of  oppressing  women,  and  is  hardly  granting  them 
that  equality  of  rights  which  some  are  so  loudly  demanding.    In 
regard  to  the  difficulties  about  aliens  holding  real  estate,  when 
privileged  to  hold  personal  estate ;  in  a  country  like  this  where 
real  estate  confers  no  special  political  privileges,  the  distinction 
is  utterly  useless,  and  is  a  mere  result  of  the  retention  of  anti 
quated  distinctions  derived  from  the  feudal  law ;  and  the  reten 
tion  of  such  distinctions  is  mere  pettifoggery. 

(c)  As  to  Proving  or  Producing  Fitness  ;  there  is  no  evidence 


INDIVIDUAL   NATURALIZATION.  309 

to  belie vre  that  oaths  of  allegiance  are  worth  the  few  moments 
spent  in  making  them,  or  the  paper  they  are  written  upon.  As 
to  length  of  residence,  IT  is  the  most  practicable  reliance  for  pro 
ducing  or  proving,  feelings  and  convictions  suitable  to  the  changed 
nationality.  But  we  find  that  blind  attachments  to  native  land 
are,  not  only  life-long,  but  even  hereditary.  It  is  probable,  that  a 
reasonable  knowledge  of  the  theory  and  principles  of  the  society 
and  government  INTO  which  they  had  come,  taught  to  and  ex 
acted  from  foreigners,  in  order  to  naturalization,  would  be  of 
great  use.  The  nominal  condition  of  good  moral  character,,  ought 
to  be  made  a  real  and  vital  condition.  But  even  after  all,  the 
greatest  difficulty,  namely,  the  predilections  of  birth  and  early 
training,  continue;  and  of  these,  the  influences  of  early  training 
and  c&m-sympathy,  are  greater  even  than  the  mere  fact  of  birth 
itself. 

Special  antipathy  to  any  foreign  government,  is  quite  as  fully 
an  UNfitness  for  naturalization,  as  partiality  for  the  adoptive  one, 
is  fitness ;  and  in  fact  the  antipathy  is,  generally,  only  another 
form  for  home-partiality,  or  some  other  prejudice,  under  a  dif 
ferent  condition  of  things.  But  at  any  rate,  the  antipathy  is 
productive  of  more  evil  than  the  partiality  is  of  good ;  because 
such  is  the  general  character  of  human  nature  that  hatred  is 
more  active  than  friendship. 

Just  as  Nation  is  an  eternal  Unit  of  Society,  so  nationality  is 
an  abiding  element  of  human  character,  and  is  not  capable  of 
being  laid  aside  by  an  effort  of  will,  nor  by  papers  of  natural 
ization.  This  is  constantly  proved  by  the  fact,  that  some  of  the 
immigrants  in  the  United  States  are  continually  at  work  endeav 
oring  to  influence  the  peoples,  and  revolutionize  the  governments 
from  which  they  came.  And  then  their  quite' innocent  and 
proper  publications  and  "  organs/7  and  societies  for  mutual  be 
nevolence,  &c.  have  necessarily,  although  unintentionally,* the 
effect  of  constantly  keeping  alive  their  old  partialities  and  their 
old  animosities.  If  the  immigrants  came  from  a  greater  variety 
of  countries,  and  in  more  equal  proportions  from  each  of  them, 
their  animosities,  and  the  troubles  and  difficulties  therefrom 
arising,  would  be  apt  to  balance  each  other,  and  so  be  less,  gen 
erally. 

But  the  wants  of  the  United  States  for  population  at  first, 


310  BK.  III.      NATION.      III.  III. 

and  the  inducements  our  country  could  present,  were  so  strong, 
that  an  easy  system  of  naturalization  laws  was  natural,  and  al 
most  inevitable,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances.  All  that  can 
be  done,  is  to  educate  their  minds  and  hearts  to  truth  and  good 
ness  ;  and  then,  trust  to  their  own  sense  of  honor  justice  and 
kindness.  All  that  we  want  is  to  preserve  peace  and  justice. 
No  clamor  about  patriotism  or  "  native"  land,  should  bias  the 
matter.  And  it  is  well  to  receive  foreigners  as  fast  as  we  can 
digest  them,  politically,  socially,  and  morally. 

!But  we  ought  not  to  be  in  too  great  a  hurry  to  parcel  out  all 
our  public  lands.  In  some  of  the  states  and  territories,  for 
eigners  are  allowed,  even  by  the  United  States  courts,  political 
privileges  before  naturalization.  But  this  is  contrary  to  some  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  nationality.  For  nationality  pre 
supposes  that  its  Precincts  are  parts  of  itself,  not  only  geograph 
ically,  but  personally.  And  this  allowance  therefore,  is  only 
another  part  of  that  system  which  aims  to  draw  immigrants 
from  foreign  countries,  and  stimulates  western  emigration  and 
acatteration,  wildly,  and  prevents  our  unoccupied  lands  from 
being  held  forever  by  the  public  as  landlord,  and  for  the  profit 
of  all  the  people  (see  Spencer  on  the  tenure  of  land), — and  puts 
them  into  the  private  ownership  of  the  sort  of  gentlemen,  whose 
energy  for  taking  care  of  "  number  one"  is  not  the  least  of '  their 
qualifications,  and  who  are  always  ready  to  accept  from  the 
Nation,  a  few  hundred  square  MILES  of  good  land,  to  "  develop 


BOOK    IV. 

CORPORATION. 


CHAP.  (A)   PEEFACE  TO  CORPORATION. 

OUR  definition  of  Corporation  is,  that  it  is  a  something  en 
tirely  different  from,  either  Precinct,  or  Nation,  or  borough  or 
town,  or  any  other  Locality-government  whatever.  Just  as  is 
the  case  with  churches ;  the  members  of  the  same  Locality  be 
long  to  different  churches ;  and  members  of  the  same  church, 
belong  to  different  Localities :  so  there  have  been,  and  it  is  as 
conceivable  that  there  may  be,  different  civil  governments  for 
different  Individuals  in  the  same  Precinct ;  and  that  such  Cor- 
poratiqns  for  civil  self-government,  may  embrace  members  from 
two  or  more  Precincts.  But  the  main  point  of  the  difference  is, 
that  different  Corporations  for  the  self-government- of  their  own 
voluntary  members,  may  be  formed  WITHIN  THE  SAME  PRE 
CINCT  ;  just  as  persons  may  be  members  of  different  other  vol 
untary  societies  therein.  The  members  would  select  themselves, 
on  the  ground  of  metaphysical  and  moral  resemblances  or 
adaptations.  There  would  be  intermingling  of  all  classes,  indi 
vidually,  personally  and  socially ;  but  the  civil  government  for 
each  Individual,  would,  in  most  cases,  be  administered  by  the 
civil  or  political  corporation  of  which  he  was  a  member.  Dif 
ferences  bet  ween -members  of  different  Corporations,  would  have 
to  be  settled  by  arbitration,  or  in  some  other  equitable  manner, 
between  the  authorities  of  the  Corporations,  or  in  methods  pre 
scribed  by  them.  Nevertheless,  matters  strictly  referring  to  the 
geographical  concerns  of  Localities,  whether  of  Precinct  or  Na 
tion,  would  have  to  be  settled  by  those  Local  governments 
respectively;  and  only  such  matters;  except  that  all  FOREIGN 
affairs  must  be  left  also  to  the  Nation. 

We  have  had  more  difficulty  and  more  labor,  over  our  article 

311 


312  BK.  IV.      CORPORATION.      (A) 

on  Corporation,  than  over  almost  any  other  part  of  the  work. 
One  reason  was,  we  had  found  no  books  that  had  afforded  us 
any  material  aid.  True ;  Mr.  Carey's  Large  edition,  in  vol.  3, 
chap.  Hi.  §  3,  pp.  415  to  423,  has  eight  or  nine  excellent  pages 
upon  the  subject,  in  a  miscellaneous  way:  but  unfortunately, 
these  have  been  entirely  omitted  from  the  Abridged  edition,  (see 
its  chap.  xliv.  §§  2  and  3),  which  is  the  one  I  have  generally 
used.  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  Large  edition  itself.  Calvin 
Blanchard,  an  old  chum  of  Greeley,  has  also  published  consid 
erably  on  this  subject;  but  I  have  never  seen  any  of  his  writings 
thereon ;  and  as  represented  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  his  the 
ory  is  very  different  from  mine,  as  will  appear  in  chap.  ii.  §  2, 
ensuing.  Also,  a  Mr.  Sinnickson  has  written  some  little,  but 
well,  upon  this  subject ;  yet  not  until  my  article  was  pretty  well 
under  way,  at  least  I  did  not  meet  with  anything  from  him  pre 
viously,  and  only  a  few  scraps,  then. 

Another  reason  of  the  difficulty  and  labor  qver  this  subject  of 
CORPORATION,  and  this  latter  principally, — was  the  fact,  that 
the  variety  of  possible  or  even  useful  Corporations,  is  almost 
indefinitely  great;  and  even  the  variety  of  the  political  ones, 
which  are  the  kind  we  design  specially  to  treat,  is  also  so  great, 
that  real  difficulty  arises,  both  as  to  the  classifications  of  the 
whole,  and  also  as  to  the  kinds  to  select  for  illustration, — to 
enable  the  reader,  without  undue  complication  or  prolixity,  to 
have,  both  a  glimpse  of  the  whole  field,  and  yet  a  sight  of 
minutiae  sufficient  to  be  intelligible  and  unequivocal.  It  was 
also  desirable,  to  endeavor  to  avoid  such  a  repulsive  dryness,  as 
would  insure  there  would  be  no  readers  of  the  article  at  all. 
Hence,  it  has  been  deemed  best,  to  arrange  its  Main  Divisions 
or  Parts,  in  a  rather  different  order  from  what  has  usually  been 
pursued  by  us.  Accordingly,  the  Argument, — Anticipations  in 
history,  and  the  Anticipations  by  some  other  Social  Scientists, 
and  some  formal  Arguments  for  the  Right  and  Expediency, — 
are  placed  first:  Then,  the  General  Survey  of  them,  according 
to  their  nature ;  the  Definitions  and  Classifications :  And  last 
of  all,  are  placed  the  more  Exact  Investigations  of  the  general 
theory,  rising  gradually  to  the  most  general  conceptions  of  the 
subject,  and  then  falling  to  the  more  practical  ones. 

In  this  First  Main  Division,  which  we  call  the  ARGUMENT, 


ARGUMENT.     ANTICIPATIONS,   BY   FACTS. 

we  only  give  a  few  Anticipations,  and  a  few  miscellaneous  evi 
dences  for  the  rights ;  and  a  few  of  the  miscellaneous  advan 
tages,  whether  common  to  it  with  the  Precinct,  or  peculiar  to  it 
alone.  We  give  these  miscellaneous  arguments  in  this  Main 
Division,  simply  because  they  seem  out  'of  place,  in  the  two  sub 
sequent  ones. 

Many  arguments  for  Corporations,  are  adducible  also,  either 
for  Precinct  or  for  Nation ;  and  are  thus  common  to  two  Ele 
ments.  Those  common  to  PRECINCT  and  Corporation,  will  first 
and  frequently  be  treated.  But  for  those  common  to  NATION 
and  Corporation,  the  reader  is  referred  back  to  that  Element, 
namely  Book  III. ;  or  forward  to  the  investigation  of  "  Corpora 
tions  exercising  inherent  political  functions," — as  treated  in  the 
Third  Main  Division  of  this  present  Element  or  "  Book." 


MAIN  DIVISION  I. 

ARGUMENT   FOR    POLITICO-GOVERN 
MENTAL  CORPORATIONS. 

SUB-DIVISION   I. 

ANTICIPATIONS  OF  GOVERNMENTAL    CORPORA- 

TIONS. 

CHAP.  I.     ANTICIPATIONS   BY   FACTS. 

§  1.  In  Religion  and  Morals. 

The  earliest  Corporations  we  find  in  history,  whether  con 
nected  with  the  civil  power,  or  independent  of  it,  are  the 
religious  organizations.  Bretano  expressly  says,  they  followed 
immediately  after  the  "  frith  guilds";  and  the  frith  guilds  are 
essentially  our  elementary  Precincts,  and  not  merely  artificial  or 
deliberative  Corporations.  And  the  religious  organizations  of 
most  countries  and  ages,  are  either  virtual  or  actual  Corpo 
rations. 

The  tribe  of  Levi  was  a  legally  instituted  national  Corpora 
tion.  It  occupied  a  very  different  position,  from  that  of  all  the 
churches  in  the  United  States,  taken  collectively ;  and  different 


314  BK.  IV.      CORPORATION.      I.  I.  I. 

a^o  from  any  modern  national  church.  Its  position  was  like 
that  of  the  bishops  of  the  Middle  Ages,  possessing  secular 
dominions.  Hence,  it  exercised  civil  authority,  by  virtue  of  its 
religious  office.  The  Levites,  besides  possessing  the  dignities 
and  exemptions  enjoined  as  religious  officials, — were  also  the 
ordinary  civil  judges,  of  the  country  around  the  numerous  cities 
allotted  to  them. ' 

The  Christian  churches  have  always  been  Corporations.  Just 
as  the  reformation  and  freedom  in  the  churches,  in  the  16th 
century,  were,  as  Guizot  says,  the  precursors  and  first  steps  of 
reformation  and  freedom  in  the  intellectual  world ;  so  also  the 
commencement  and  persistence  of  independent  Corporations,  by 
churches,  may  be  the  precursors  and  first  steps  of  civil  govern 
ment  by  Corporations  in  general. 

The  monastic  institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages,  possessed  a  very 
considerable  degree  of  municipal  power  upon  their  own  territo 
ries;  and  were  also  allowed  more  or  less  political,  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical  representation,  in  the  Nations.  Of  Monasticism, 
Comte  (Pos.  Phil.  608)  says  : — "  We  must  also  recognize  the 
political  bearing  of  the  monastic  institutions,  which  certainly 
were  one  of  the  most  indispensable  elements  of  the  vast  organ 
ism,  *  *  *  the  cradle  whence  issued  by  anticipation,  the  chief 
Christian  conceptions,  dogmatic  and  practical ;  *  *  *  the  founda 
tion  whence  issued  the  reformation  of  orders ;  a  provision  for 
the  beneficial  exercise  of  political  genius,  which  it  has  been  im 
possible  to  appreciate  since  its  inevitable  decay.  *  :  The 
Catholic  system  could  not  have  preserved  *  *  *  the  attribute 
of  generality,  *  *  *  if  these  contemplative  train-bands,  who 
were  placed  by  their  very  nature  at  the  universal  point  of  view, 
had  not  been  forever  reproducing  direct  thought,  while  exhibit 
ing  an  example  of  independence  which  thereby  became  more 
generally  practicable." 

It  is  a  Corporation  of  the  most  respectable  citizens  of  Gothen 
burg,  Sweden,  who  are  now  executing  the  most  successful  plan 
against  intemperance,  ever  devised.  They  pay  all  its  profits  into 
the  city  treasury,  appoint  all  the  retailers,  furnish  them  all  the 
liquor  at  wholesale,  allow  no  profit  whatever  to  be  made  by  the 
retailer,  out  of  the  strong  liquors  sold,  but  only  the  profit  out 
of  malt  liquors,  coffee,  tea,  cigars,  and  victuals,  which  they  are 


ARGUMENT.    ANTICIPATIONS,  BY   FACTS.  315 

required  to  keep  on  hand,  and  to  sell  reasonably.  Also  the 
Corporation  requires  the  sales-rooms  to  be  pleasant  places  ;  and 
does  not  allow  any  liquor  to  be  sold  either  on  credit  or  on 
pledge. 

Our  respectable  Indian  commissioners  might  succeed  as  well 
as  the  Swedish   Temperance-friends,  if  only  they  were  duly 
organized    into   a   suitable    Corporation.     But    otherwise,   the 
"  rings"  against  them  are  too  strong  for  them. 
§  2.  In  Politics  and  Parties. 

All  the  political  parties,  great  and  small,  are  virtual  Corpora 
tions  ;  so  also  are  the  organized  "  rings"  and  cliques  within  these 
other  organizations,  whether  of  church  or  state.  Several  of  the 
"  United  States"  were  started  by,  or  soon  transformed  into,  Cor 
porations.  Indeed,  all  Corporations,  when  they  become  great  and 
important,  are  drawn  more  or  less  into  politics,  even  if  not  in 
tentionally  so.  But  generally,  they  turn  their  realized  greatness 
voluntarily,  into  political  channels.  •  Even  the  Temperance- 
societies  and  the  Peace-churches,  sooner  or  later,  and  more  or 
less,  find  themselves  acting  according  to  this  tendency. 

Carey  has  enumerated  some  valuable  Corporations  of  antiquity, 
to  which  the  reader  is  referred ;  namely  his  Large  Edition,  vol. 
3,  chap.  Hi.  §  3. 

The  legislative  and  judicial  authorities  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
were  cosmopolitan.  They  were  Councils  of  virtual  compromise, 
acknowledging  the  representation  of  Corporations  such  as  we 
propose  in  the  latter  part  of  this  article ;  and  some  remnants  of 
which,  still  continue.  The  parliaments  or  national  assemblies  of 
the  European  governments,  contained  representatives  of  the  Free 
Cities,  the  Churches,  the  Monasteries,  and  the  Universities.  But 
these  were  in  such  small  proportion,  as  to  avail  but  little  before 
the  grand  controlling  power  of  the  Great  Localities.  But  even 
so  far  as  these  corporate  representatives  did  retain  real  power, 
the  power  itself  gradually  ceased  to  be  free  in  its  operations ; 
besides,  the  choice  of  the  representatives  also  ceased  to  be  free. 
But  worse  than  all,  the  Corporations  themselves  became  anti 
quated;  and  the  system  contained  no  principle  of  recognizing 
Corporations  as  such,  nor  of  reorganizing  them ;  and  therefore 
new  kinds  as  demanded  by  progress,  were  not  formed ;  and  of 
course,  when  the  Corporations  ceased  to  have  general  political 


316  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.      I.  I.  I. 

f 

value,  their  rights  lost  their  defenders,  even  among  the  un 
learned  laity.  Nevertheless,  those  legislatures  were  sufficiently 
analogous  to  these  we  propose,  to  entitle  them  to  be  here  cited. 

Several  of  the  earliest  and  most  prominent  attempts  at  settle 
ment,  in  the  United  States,  were  made  by  'actually  chartered 
Corporations.  Such  was  the  case  with  that  at  Jamestown,  which 
was  the  earliest  of  all.  The  Jamestown  Corporation  was  divided 
into  two  companies,  each  having  its  own  part  of  the  territory 
to  manage.  This  Corporation,  eleven  years  subsequently,  al 
lowed  its  colonists  to  elect  delegates  to  a  legislative  assembly, 
whilst  retaining  itself  the  appointment  of  its  governor  and  select 
council ;  but  in  a  few  years  more  the  Corporation  dissolved : 
and  that  was  the  origin  of  democracy  in  the  United  States. 
Then  the  "Plymouth  Corporation"  obtained,  in  1620,  the  grant 
of  the  United  States,  between  Maryland  and  Canada ;  and  from 
that  Corporation  the  "Pilgrim  Fathers"  obtained  their  lands; 
whence  came  the  grants  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island  and 
Connecticut.  The  settlements  at  and  near  Philadelphia,  were 
begun  by  a  Swedish  Corporation  in  1638,  many  years  before 
Penn  came.  The  first  settlements  in  New  York  were  made 
in  1610,  by  a  Holland  Corporation,  "the  Dutch  West  India 
Company."  And  the  principal  impetus  to  the  settlement  of 
Georgia,  was  given  in  1732,  by  the  charter  of  incorporation 
under  the  leadership  of  Oglethorpe.  It  must  be  admitted,  that 
all  these  Corporations  ultimately  failed  of  their  corporate  de 
signs;  partly  because  the  colonists  had  but  little  gratitude  to 
the  Corporations  who  had  brought  them  over  from  the  Old 
Country,  and  given  them  lands ;  but  chiefly,  because,  being  for 
eign  and  non-resident  Corporations,  they  were  no  more  able  to 
govern  the  Colonies,  than  were  the  respective  kings,  or  other 
civil  authorities,  of  the  countries  whence  they  had  come.  And 
that  the  colonists  were  able  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  Cor 
porations,  so  much  easier  and  sooner,  than  the  yoke  of  the  kings, 
and  that  the  Corporations  yielded  so  to  the  force  of  circumstances, 
is  proof  of  their  value,  if  only  rightly  constructed.  And  all  that 
kept  them  from  yielding  more  readily,  seems  to  have  been  the 
hope  of  regaining  their  financial  losses  therein, — an  opposition 
that  might  have  been  easily  and  justly  met,  by  the  colonists 
compensating  them  fairly. 


ARGUMENT.     ANTICIPATIONS,   BY   FACTS.  317 

§  3.  In  Education. 

The  Universities  and  Colleges  of  modern  Europe,  possessed 
for  centuries,  a  limited  degree  of  municipal  authority.  The 
word  "collegium"  itself  meant  association,  and  included  the 
ideas  both  of  partnership  and  Corporation.  "  The  word  univer 
sity,  in  the  code  Justinian,  is  used  to  designate  a  Corporation. 
Thus  there  were  in  Rome,  in  the  7th  and  8th  centuries,  univer 
sities  of  tailors,  bakers,  &c."  (App.  Cyclop,  xv.  836).  The  uni 
versities  soon  found  it  necessary  to  have  some  sort  of  municipal 
government,  by  instituting  their  members  into  Corporations  for 
that  purpose.  For  administering  their  authority,  the  univer 
sities  were  subdivided,  sometimes  into  colleges,  and  sometimes 
into  DIVISIONS  OF  SEVERAL  NATIONALITIES  ;  yet  each  of  these 
divisions  included  several  different  nationalities.  It  was  this 
necessity,  perhaps,  quite  as  much  as  respect  for  learning,  that 
caused  the  universities  to  be  allowed  various  kinds  and  amounts 
of  political  power,  both  representative  and  judicial. 

Several  of  the  European  medical  colleges,  "have  both  a  power 
of  police  over  matters  pertaining  to  the  public  health,  and  the 
privilege  of  examining  candidates  for  medical  degrees/'  and 
without  whose  authority  they  cannot  practice.  (App.  Cyclop, 
v.  468). 

Oxford  University  in  England,  and  so  also  Cambridge,  is  a 
federal  Corporation,  consisting  of  several  distinct  colleges,  each 
of  which,  within  certain  limitations,  is  an  independent  organiza 
tion,  having  its  own  private  property,  and  having  control  over 
its  own  students  within  its  own  boundaries. 

Of . the  Universities,  Comte  (Pos.  Phil.  p.  726)  says:— "At  a 
time  when  national  divergences  were  still  very  great,  and  when 
the  Catholic  bond  was  dissolved  ;  the  Universities  threw  open 
their  doors  to  foreigners ;  so  as  to  mark  the  new  speculative  class 
as  European,  and  to  afford  the  best  testimony  to  the  cosmopolitan 
character  of  the  scientific  spirit." 

Most  of  the  communes  and  communities,  at  least  the  Protestant 
ones,  are  and  have  been,  without  actual  charters,  but  yet  are  vir 
tual  Corporations,  exercising  a  limited  degree  of  governmental 
power.  And  they  may  as  well  be  enumerated  here,  under  edu 
cation,  as  anywhere  elsej  because  their  principal  use  to  the  world 
thus  far,  has  been  to  teach  by  example  'and  precept,  what  can  be 


318  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  I.  I. 

done  in  their  way;  and  thus  they  are  instances  of  what  Corpo 
rations  have  done  in  education. 

§  4.  In  Trade. 

Plutarch  relates,  that  in  the  early  ages  of  ancient  Rome,  Numa 
organized  the  citizens  into  societies  or  Corporations,  according  to 
their  occupations.  Some  of  the  modern  savans,  however,  say  that 
Plutarch  was  wrong  in  this  story ;  but  how  our  savans  should 
have  so  much  more  certain  knowledge  about  it,  than  Plutarch, 
is  not  so  easy  to  see.  But  it  is  very  easy  to  see,  how  this  very 
variance  from  the  present  customs  and  ideas,  might  raise  doubts 
as  to  the  ancient  facts.  According  to  Plutarch,  (App.  Cyclop, 
v.  467) :  "  The  original  design  was  to  prevent  the  danger  of  any 
general  conspiracy,  byx  organizing  separate  assemblies,  festivals, 
and  finances,  for  different  portions  of  citizens."  But  in  fact, 
these  institutions  had  rather  the  opposite  tendency,  and  became 
so  disorderly  that  they  were  repeatedly  suppressed  by  the  Roman 
government.  But  in  modern  times,  we  find  such  organizations 
arising  spontaneously.  All  our  trades,  wholesale  and  retail, 
"Employers  and  Employes,  are  forming  themselves  into  partial 
Corporations  for  their  particular  self-interested  purposes. 

The  Guilds  of  .Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  remnants  of  which 
continue  to  this  day,  were  virtually,  political  Corporations.  Of 
these  Guilds,  Comte  (p.  695)  says:  —  they  "incorporated  the 
members  of  each  craft,  and  protected  Individual-industry  at 
first;  however  they  might  oppress  it  at  last."  Bretano,  in  his 
history  of  Guilds,  says :  "  The  trade-unions  of  the  present  day, 
were  the  successors  of  the  '  craft-guilds'  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
These  again  succeeded  to  the  town-guilds  or  guilds  merchant, 
which  were  local  rather  than  professional,  and  included  the  com 
mercial  rather  than  the  producing  class.  These  were  preceded 
by  a  yet  more  ancient  sort  of  guilds, — the  religious  or  social 
guilds ;  for  they  were  a  mingling  of  both  characters  ;  and  before 
these,  came  the  original  guilds, — the  frith-guilds  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  which  seem  to  have  been  associations  of  neighbors  for 
mutual  help  and  defence" ,  [namely,  Our  Precincts].  "  Within 
the  craft-guilds,  the  institution  of  apprenticeship  grew  up.  This 
institution  was  then  accompanied  with  much  formality;  for  it 
was  not  merely  the.  introduction  to  a  business,  but  to  CITIZEN 
SHIP." 


ARGUMENT.    ANTICIPATIONS,   BY   FACTS.  319 

Of  merchants  making  their  own  laws,  Comte  (p.  694)  says : — 
"  During  the  medieval  period,  when  industrial  communities  legis 
lated  independently,  before  the  formations  of  the  greater  polities, 
there  were  commercial  tribunals  and  regulations,  which  do  great 
honor  to  the  Hanseatic  merchants,  whose  jurisdiction  contrasts 
very  favorably  with  others  of  that  age."  And  we  add,  that  the 
old  Dutch  Bank  notes,  founded  upon  and  representing  always, 
the  exact  amounts  of  coin  actually  deposited  and  reserved, — 
were  the  only  legitimate  paper-currency,  the  world  has  yd  seen : 
and,  the  departure  from  which  system,  has  entailed  a  financial 
curse  upon  the  world,  which,  in  all  probability,  will  continue  to 
weigh  heavily  upon  it,  as  long  as  the  ordinary  course  of  human 
things  shall  endure. 

The  greater  part  of  the  mercantile  law  in  England,  may  in 
spirit  be  regarded  as  the  work  of  Corporations ;  for  it  is  chiefly 
a  digest  of  mercantile  usages  of  late  date.  Mr.  Mill,  while 
strongly  condemning  the  common  law  of  England,  yet  com 
mends  the  mercantile  part  of  it  highly  (Pol.  Econ.  p.  534),  as 
follows:  — " Fortunately  for  the  prosperity  of  England,  the 
greater  part  of  the  mercantile  law  is  comparatively  modern,  and 
was  made  by  the  tribunals,  by  the  simple  process,  of  recognizing 
and  giving  force  of  law  to,  the  usages  which,  from  motives  of 
convenience,  had  grown  up  among  merchants  themselves ;  so 
that  this  part  of  the  law  at  least,  was  substantially  made  by 
those  who  were  most  interested  in  its  goodness." 

Of  this  class  of  Corporations,  the  most  interesting  and  the 
most  hopeful  kind,  are  those  which  we  often  find  men  sponta 
neously  forming,  in  order  to  avoid  the  corruptions  and  ineffi 
ciency  of  the  ordinary  law ;  and  thus  to  perform  spontaneously 
and  very  satisfactorily,  the  particular  functions  for  which  they 
are  organized ;  for  instance,  associations  such  as  the  Boards  of 
Brokers,  Boards  of  Trade,  Chambers  of  Commerce,  and  vari 
ous  kinds  of  Trade-Exchanges,  Trades-Unions,  and  Employers' 
Unions,  which  are  found  more  or  less  in  all  the  large  cities  of 
the  world. 

§  5.   Cosmopolitan  and  Migratory. 

Several  Corporations  are  cosmopolitan,  and  almost  world-wide. 
The  Jewish  people  have  ceased  from  being  a  Nation,  for  2000 
years ;  yet  have  continued  to  live  as  a  virtual  world-wide  Cor- 


320  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  I.  I. 

poration.  The  Catholic  Church  is  another  cosmopolitan  Corpo 
ration.  So  also  are  the  Moravian  and  Quaker  Churches  ;  also, 
several  of  the  great  Foreign  Missionary  Societies.  So  also  are 
the  Free  Masons,  and  perhaps  some  other  Societies. 

Then  also  there  are  various  migratory  or  TRAVELLING  Cor 
porations.  The  settlers  and  colonists  on  new  territories,  are 
always  virtually,  and  often  actually,  incorporated  Companies. 
Sailors  and  soldiers  are  travelling  Corporations,  both  virtually 
and  organically.  The  Gypsies  also  are  a  notable  exemplification, 
exercising  politico-governmental  functions  among  themselves,  by 
voluntary  organization;  entirely  independent  of  all  other  "civil 
powers";  and  almost  entirely  abstract  from  particular  Locations, 
whether  Precinct,  Nation,  or  even  Continent 

Some  of  the  Corporations  established  for  making  foreign  set 
tlements,  are  also  cosmopolitan,  and  almost  world-wide,  in  their 
nature.  The  British  and  Dutch  East  India  Companies,  begun 
for  trade,  exercised  political  government,  and  produced  settle 
ments.  So  also  several  other  organizations,  which  in  former 
centuries  helped  to  settle  the  newly  discovered  Continent.  Cali 
fornia  received  many  of  its  best  early  settlers  from  the  East,  by 
means  of  Corporations ;  and  now  it  is  receiving  its  vast  addi 
tions  from  the  "  Celestial"  Empire,  by  the  same  means.  All  the 
classes  of  society  and  all  the  Social  Circles,  are  VIRTUAL  Corpo 
rations,  and  may  be  enumerated  under  the  head  of  cosmopolitan, 
as  well  as  anywhere  else. 

Chivalry  was  another  cosmopolitan  institution.  Comte  (p. 
621),  says :  *  *  *  "  Mohammedanism  had,  even  before  the  Cru 
sades,  originated  something  like  the  noble  associations,  by  which 
Chivalry  affords  a  natural  corrective  of  insufficient  Individual 
protection,"  *  *  *  yet "  their  free  rise  is  attributable  to  the  Mid 
dle- Age-spirit."  The  examples  of  Chivalry  show  some  of  the 
principles,  whereupon  the  peace-men  may  build  their  theories  of 
the  most  absolute  non-resistance :  because  there  will  rise  up  FOR 
SUCH,  when  oppressed  by  fighting  men,  other  fighting  men,  actu 
ated  by  mingled  duty,  compassion,  combativeness,  and  love  of 
glory.  And  for  such,  the  Corporation-method  is  the  best. 


ARGUMENT.    ANTICIPATIONS,  BY  WRITERS.  321 

CHAP.  II.     ANTICIPATIONS   BY    WRITERS. 

§  1.   The  Ancients  and  the  Idealists. 

Plato,  in  his  Model  Republic,  bases  his  whole  theory  of  gov 
ernment,  upon  the  conception  of  a  Corporation.  For,  as  Spencer 
(111.  Prog.  391),  says,  his  (Plato's)  ideal  of  a  body  politic,  is  to 
be  put  together  by  men,  in  parts,  as  a  watch  might  be. 

The  Scripture  places  the  Corporation  of  the  Christian  Church, 
on  a  par  with  a  Kingdom  or  Nation.  It  is  often,  in  the  Gospels, 
called  the  Kingdom  of  God.  And  in  Matt.,  xxi.  43,  is  expressly  , 
called  A  NATION.  And  the  Prophet  Daniel  speaks  of  it,  as  a 
kingdom  which  should  ultimately  absorb  all  the  other  kingdoms 
of  the  Earth. 

Hobbes,  not  only  implies  but  actually  asserts,  the  corporate 
nature  of  bodies  politic, — and  this,  notwithstanding  his  whole 
system  is  based  upon  the  analogy  of  society  to  a  living  animal. 
" l  BY  ART/  he  says,  '  is  created  that  great  Leviathan,  called  a 
Commonwealth.7  And  he  even  goes  so  far  as  to  compare  the 
supposed  social  contract,  from  which  a  society  suddenly  origi 
nates,  to  the  creation  of  a  man  by  the  divine  fiat."  (See  Spencer's 
111.  Prog.  391.) 

In  fact,  the  general  principle  that  pervaded  most  writings  on 
Society  and  Government,  in  all  ages  previous  to  the  utterance  of 
Mclntosh,  that  "  constitutions  are  not  made,  but  grow," — was 
the  idea  of  virtual  Corporations.  But  in  our  day,  the  principle 
is  being  ignored  in  all  directions.  Even  Spencer,  whose  theory 
would  be  greatly  aided  by  our  principle  of  Corporations,  says, 
that  the  fact  "  that  this  Apothegm  of  Mclntosh  should  have 
been  quoted  and  requoted  as  it  has  been,  shows  how  profound 
has  been  the  ignorance  of  Social .  Science."  But  how  he  can 
reconcile  this,  with  that  other  great  doctrine  of  his,  namely, 
"  that  all  science  is  but  the  extension  of  common  knowledge," 
we  do  not  see.  Yet  perhaps  we  are  in  the  darkness  that  "  per 
vaded  through  all  previous  time" ;  for  we  are  convinced,  that  if 
hitherto  it  has  been  true,  that  "  constitutions  grow  but  are  not 
made," — it  is  high  time  they  were  really  made. 

Also,  all  other  of  those  writers  who  have  proposed  ideals  of 
government,  (as  Sir  Thomas  More,  Fourier,  and  so  on,)  proceed 
on  the  same  virtual  Corporation-Hypothesis  of  government. 

21 


322  BK-  IY-      CORPORATION.      T.  I.  II. 

Even  the  framers  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  pro 
ceeded  on  the  same  hypothesis.  The  whole  theory  of  "  delega 
tion  of  rights/'  as  the  origin  or  essence  of  government,  proceeds 
upon  the  same  hypothesis. 

§  2.   The  Modern  Scientists. 

(a)  Spencer.  That  all  civil  governments,  whether  of  the  Na 
tion  or  Precinct,  partake  of  the  nature  of  a  Corporation",  seems 
indeed  almost  to  have  occurred  to  Spencer.  Thus,  (111.  of  Prog. 
396) :  "  The  last  and  perhaps  the  most  important  distinction" 
between  an  animal  and  society,  "  is,  that  while  in  the  body  of  an 
animal,  only  a  special  tissue  is  endowed  with  feeling  •  in  a  so 
ciety,  all  the  members  are  endowed  with  feeling."  Thus,  the 
Principle  of  Political  Corporation  seems  to  have  almost  occurred 
to  him,  but  in  such  an  indirect  and  merely  figurative  way,  as  to 
have  passed  him  by,  without  any  serious  attention.  Even  his 
whole  idea  of  government,  originally  was  that  of  a  sort  of  Cor 
poration,  and  seemed  to  allow  no  natural,  instinctive,  spontane 
ous,  nor  elementary  rights  to  society  as  such ;  nor  scarcely  any 
other  rights,  than  if  it  were  only  a  voluntary  Corporation." 
(Continuing  from  Westminster  Review,  Jan.  1860,  we  quote): — 
"  The  community  as  a  whole  has  no  general  or  CORPORATE  con 
sciousness,  distinct  from  those  of  its  components.  This  is  an 
everlasting  reason,  why  the  welfare  of  citizens  cannot  rightly  be 
sacrificed  to  some  supposed  benefit, of  the  State ;  but  why,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  State  must  be  regarded  as  existing  solely  for 
the  benefit  of  citizens.  The  CORPORATE  life  must  here  be  sub 
servient  to  the  life  of  the  parts,  instead  of  the  life  of  the  parts 
being  subservient  to  the  CORPORATE  life." 

Again  :  Spencer  has  laid  down  the  broad  PRINCIPLES,  in  a 
general  way,  whereby  the  Individual-man  and  Corporations, 
react  upon  each  other: — the  principles  whereby  Corporations 
would  provide  for  and  cure,  the  evils  which  their  own  system 
might  give  rise  to.  Although,  it  seems,  that  Spencer  himself 
had  chiefly  in  his  mind,  the  organization  of  Nations,  Provinces, 
Geographical  formations,  &c.  Yet  he  has  repeatedly  pointed  out 
the  reciprocal  actions,  of  man,  on  his  surroundings ;  and  then 
of  those  surroundings,  on  man ;  and  then  of  the  changed  man, 
again  on  his  surroundings;  and  then,  of  those  surroundings, 
again  on  the  man.  And  these  reciprocities  of  influence  reach 


ARGUMENT.    ANTICIPATIONS,  BY  WRITERS.  323 

their  climax,  of  degree,  kind,  and  importance,  in  the  reactions 
of  human  SOCIETIES  or  ASSOCIATIONS,  upon  each  other.  There 
fore  we  may  infer,  that  these  reactions  and  reciprocal  influences, 
will  "evolve"  their  greatest  results,  that  is  to  say,  will  do  their 
HIGHEST  work,  in  CORPORATIONS.  Spencer  calls  these  recip 
rocal  influences  or  powers,  "  Factors  of  Social  Phenomena" ;  and 
those  of  the  influences  which  are  above  the  physical,  and  iray 
be  termed  moral  and  metaphysical ;  he  would  call  the  "super- 
organic"  Factors.  But,  let  us  quote,  and  allow  him  to  speak  for 
himself. 

Spencer  in  Principles  of  Sociology  Part  I.  chap.  ii.  §  13, 
says: — "Recognizing  the  primary  truth,  that  social  phenomena 
depend,  in  part  on  the  natures  of  the  Individuals,  and  in  part  on 
the  forces  the  Individuals  are  subject  to  ;  we  see  that  these  two 
fundamentally-distinct  sets  of  factors,  with  which  social  changes 
commence,  become  progressively  involved  with  other  sets,  as 
social  changes  advance." 

And  again  §  1 2,  he  says : — "  During  social  evolutions,  these 
influences  are  ever  modifying  Individuals,  and  modifying  so 
ciety;  while  being  modified  by  both.  They  gradually  form 
what  we  may  consider,  either,  as  a  non-vital  part  of  the  society 
itself,  or  else  as  an  additional  environment,  which  eventually  be 
comes  even  more  important  than  the  original  environments, — so 
much  more  important,  that  there  arises  the  possibility  of  carry 
ing  on  a  high  type  of  social  life,  under  inorganic  and  organic 
conditions,  which  originally  would  have  prevented  it." 

And  again  §  11,  he  says: — "Yet  a  further  derivative  factor 
of  extreme  importance,  remains.  I  mean  the  influence  of  the 
sitper-organic  environment, — the  action  and  reaction  between  a 
society,  and  neighboring  societies.  *  *  *  For  I  may  here,  in 
passing,  briefly  indicate  the  fact,  'to  be  hereafter  exhibited  in 
full, — that  while  the  industrial  organization  of  a  society,  is 
mainly  determined  by  its  inorganic  and  organic  environments; 
its  governmental  organization  is  mainly  determined  by  its  super- 
organic  environment, — by  the  action  of  those  adjacent  societies 
with  which  it  carries  on  the  struggle  for  existence." 

If  the  reader  should  refer  to  Spencer's  Part  I.,  above  men 
tioned,  he  would  find  considerable  said  about  the  units  of  soci 
ety,  the  social  units,  &c. ;  and  might  suppose  Mr.  Spencer  had 


324  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.      I.  I    II. 

some  idea  like  our  Six  Units.  But  such  is  not  the  case.  For, 
Mr.  Spencer  uses  this  word  Units,  ONLY  in  reference  to  the  IN 
DIVIDUAL  :  and  without  explicit  definition,  that  conception  runs 
all  through  it.  See  §§  6,  13,  14,  21,  22,  24,  25:  and  all  along; 
thus,  in  his  three  great  divisions  (in  separate  chapters),  "the 
physical,  emotional,  and  intellectual,  traits  of  primitive  man": 
also  §  49,  and  so  on.  But  although  he  has  no  reference  to  any 
other  unit  than  the  Individual;  yet  such  is  the  abstract  and 
general  nature  of  his  thought  and  language  on  society,  and  so 
true  is  the  type-theory,  of  the  Individual  really  being  type  of  all 
the  five  Units  above  it,  and  so  true  also  is  our  theory  that  all  the 
Six  Units  are  types  of  CORPORATION, — that  what  he  says,  (all 
along  in  his  "  Data  of  Sociology"),  of  the  Individual -man,  is 
true  also  of  all  our  Seven  Fundamental  Elements  of  society, 
and  therefore  is  true  also  of  Corporation.  And  that  celebrated 
generalist,  has  probably,  in  some  other  places,  had  indistinct  and 
undeveloped  reference,  to  such  voluntary  association  as  we  would 
call  Corporation.  In  all  the  foregoing  or  other  references  to  Mr. 
Spencer,  I  mean  nothing  else  than  the  profoundest  respect  for 
him :  yet  still  it  is  possible,  that  the  idea  of  Political  Corpora 
tions  possessing  fundamental  and  inherent  political  functions, 
may  have  been  (as  I  suppose),  dearly  "  differentiated"  for  the  first 
time,  by  me. 

(b)  Guyot.    Guyot  also,  without  knowing  it,  or  without  calling 
special  attention  to  it ;  anticipates  the  necessity  of  Political  Cor 
porations;  where,  after  praising  the  Greek  civilization  for  its 
Individuality  and  Precinct-independence,  but  condemning  it  for 
its  lack  of  Nationality ;  he  says,  (p.  309) :— "  The  Greek  princi 
ple  is  individuality,  and  not  association  ;  and  this  is  still  further 
determined  by  the  race,  by  the  tribe,  that  is,  by  nature,  AND 
NOT  BY  VOLUNTARY  AGREEMENT.     THIS  political  and  social 
work  is  a  NEW  work,  and  is  entrusted  to  a  new  country  and  a 
new  people  :" — evidently  meaning,  this  business  of  making  gov 
ernments  by  "  voluntary  agreement." 

(c)  Mill    Mill,  Pol.  Econ.  p.  542,  sets  forth  the  rights  of  Cor 
porations,  so  far  as  "  commerce  or  industry  is  concerned."     But 
the  same  language  appears  to  be  equally  true,  when  applied  to 
any  kind  of  Corporation,  to  perform  almost  any  function,  which 
either  Individuals  or  society  ought  to  be  allowed  freedom  to  ac- 


ARGUMENT.    ANTICIPATIONS    BY  WRITERS.  325 

complish  at  all : — "  If  a  number  of  persons  choose  to  associate  for 
carrying  on  any  operation  of  commerce  or  industry,  agreeing 
among  themselves,  and  .announcing  to  those  with  whom  they 
deal,  that  the  members  of  the  association  do  not  undertake  to  be 
responsible  beyond  the  amount  of  the  subscribed  capital ;  is 
there  any  reason  that  the  law  should  raise  objections  to  this  pro 
ceeding,  and  should  impose  on  them  the  UNLIMITED  responsi 
bility  which  they  disclaim  ?  For  whose  sake  ?  Not  for  that 
of  the  partners  themselves ;  for  it  is  they  whom  the  limitation 
of  responsibility  benefits  and  protects.  It  must  therefore  be  for 
the  sake  of  third  parties,  namely,  those  who  may  have  transac 
tions  with  the  association,  and  to  whom  it  may  run  in  debt, 
beyond  what  the  subscribed  capital  suffices  to  pay.  But  nobody 
is  obliged  to  deal  with  the  association ;  still  less  is  any  one 
obliged  to  give  it  unlimited  credit.  The  class  of  persons  with 
whom  such  associations  have  dealings,  are  in  general,  perfectly 
capable  of  taking  care  of  themselves ;  and  there  seems  no  reason 
that  the  law  should  be  more  careful  of  their  interest,  than  they 
will  themselves  .be ;  provided  no  false  representation  is  held  out, 
and  they  are  aware  from  the  first,  what  they  have  to  trust  to." 

(d)  Carey.    Mr.  Carey,  in  Hunt's  Merchants7  Magazine,  May, 
1845,  speaking  of  a  Corporation  of  Industry,  says: — "Its' oper 
ations  partake  in  some  respects  of  THE  NATURE  OF  THOSE  OP 
GOVERNMENTS."     Again  :  "  A  careful  examination  of  the  sys 
tems  of  the  several  States,  can  scarcely,  we  think,  fail  to  con 
vince  the  reader,  of  the  advantage  resulting  from  permitting 
men  to  determine  among  themselves,  the  terms  upon  which  they 
will  associate;  and  allowing  the  associations  that  may  be  formed, 
to  contract  with  the  public,  as  to  the  terms  upon  which  they  will 
trade  together,  whether  of  the  limited  or  unlimited  liability  of 
the  partners."     And  this  remark,  like  Mr.  Mill's,  is  as  true 
when  applied  to  Corporations  formed  for  social  and  for  general 
governmental  purposes,  as  to  those  for  any  special  governmental, 
or  for  any  other  purpose.     If  not ;  then  for  whose  benefit  is  the 

NOT? 

(e)  Comte.     Comte  (Pos.  Phil.  p.  765),  consciously  expects  a 
spiritual,  a  super-material  authority  IN  society  ;  and  that  it  must 
finally  become  instituted,  have  "  its  political  organization,  *  *  * 
and  be  regularly  constituted."    His  type  evidently  is  the  church. 


326  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  I.  II. 

Whence  we  may  infer,  that  he  looks  to  some  kind  of  intellectual 
Corporation  as  the  new  super-material  power.  Again,  more 
pointedly  (p.  787)  he  says : — "  Such  thinkers  may  form  a  posi 
tive  Council,  under  one  form  or  another;  and  act,  either  by 
reviewing  and  renovating  all  human  conceptions,  or  by  insti 
tuting  seats  of  education  for  the  advancement  of  positive  knowl 
edge,  and  for  the  training  of  fit  coadjutors;  or  by  regulating 
the  application  of  the  system,  through  unremitting  instruction 
of  all  kinds ;  and  even  by  philosophical  intervention  in  the 
political  conflicts,  which  must  arise  till  the  old  social  action  is 
exhausted." 

(/)  Ballon.  The  first  view  that  we  have  found  in  any  writer, 
of  a  theory  of  Corporations,  approximating  ours,  is  in  Adin 
Ballou's  "  Christian  Socialism."  We  however  had  not  understood 
it,  nor  even  seen  his  book,  until  after  our  theory  had  suggested 
itself.  The  two  theories  are  very  different.  His  is  a  modifica 
tion  and  improvement  of  and  upon  Fourierism,  and  all  the  other 
proposed  social  reorganizations ;  but  ours  is  a  development  from 
the  Tribe-theory,  of  the  origin  of  civil  government ;  and  arose, 
because  it  was  found  that  the  Social  Circle  and  the  Precinct,  by 
themselves,  without  the  Corporation,  did  not  express  the  whole 
of  the  action  of  the  Tribe-element,  in  modern  society.  See  Bk.  I. 
Pt.  II.  Ch.  VIII.,  and  Bk.  IV.  M.D.  II.  S.  D.L.  Ch.  I.  and  II. 

Our  theory  originates  with  the  rights  of  Individuals,  Families, 
and  Precincts,  according  to  the  German  and  ancient  Greek  idea. 
But  Mr.  Ballou's  theory  goes  unconsciously  upon  the  assumption 
of  the  Roman  idea,  of  centralism,  and  of  government  descending 
from  the  greater  to  the  less.  The  same  "  seven  identical  circles" 
are  to  be  in<  all  his  Corporations  alike ;  namely,  "  the  adoptive, 
unitive,  preceptive,  communitive,  expansive,  charitive,  and  pa- 
rentive."  But  these  circles  are  not  to  be  incorporated,  nor  even 
to  have  any  permanent  general  organization  as  such.  "This," 
says  he,  " precludes  all  the  evils  of  caste"  &c. 

And  what  can  we  think  of  a  civil  polity  for  the  United  States, 
— or  for  any  other  republican  government, — which  would  require 
all  its  members  to  abstain  entirely  from  participation  in  civil  and 
political  affairs  ?  And  what  also  can  we  think  of  requiring  of 
its  members,  the  belief  of  such  a  subtlety  as  the  doctrine  of  Uni 
versal  Salvation,  as  one  of  the  "principles  of  theological  truth." 


ARGUMENT.     ANTICIPATIONS,  BY   WRITERS.  327 

fundamental  to  the  constitution  of  society  ?  Such  things  might 
be  admissible,  as  repetitions  of  the  small  exclusive  communities 
that  have  so  often  been  tried,  but  are  hardly  worthy  of  a  place 
in  Corporations  which  propose,  as  his  do,  to  entirely  absorb  all 
the  functions  of  civil  society.  His  Corporations  are  to  keep  so 
much  aloof  from  established  governments,  that  they  are  not  even 
to  obtain  charters,  or  legal  acts  of  incorporation,  (but  he  takes 
care  to  say,  his  trustees  "shall  take  the  utmost  care  that  all  titles 
to  Heal  Estate  shall  be  so  expressed,  executed,  and  RECORDED, 
as  effectually  to  preclude  all  ulterior  controversies";  and  further 
more,  "shall  execute  and  cause  to  be  recorded  in  the  Registry  of 
Deeds  for  the  County,  a  DECLARATION  OF  TRUST"  &c.).  No 
force  is  to  be  used ;  except  to  compel  miserably  unhappy  married 
people,  to  live  together: — Inflexibly  as  in  the  Roman  Church,  or 
even  more  so,  for  there  is  no  Pope  there,  to  grant  "dispensations." 
"Divorce,"  says  he,  "shall  NEVER  be  allowable,  except  for  adul 
tery  CONCLUSIVELY  proved." 

His  division  of  Corporations,  into  two  kinds,  "Parochial  and 
Rural,"  is  very  good.  By  "  Rural"  he  means  what  we  should 
call  Precinct-Corporation ;  or,  the  contrast  between  Parochial 
and  Rural,  might  be  expressed  by  the  words,  Total  and  Partial, 
or  Social  and  Local.  Then  again,  his  division  of  Corporations, 
into  "common-stock  and  joint-stock,"  is  also  good;  "joint-stock" 
meaning  regular  share-holders' companies ;  and  "common  stock" 
meaning  unlimited-property-communism.  But  he  does  not  seem 
to  conceive  of  the  possibility,  of  so  modifying  and  combining 
these  two  kinds  of  societies,  as  to  give  rise  to  a  third  kind,  which 
might  partly  be  a  compromise  between  them.  In  other  words, 
he  does  not  conceive  of  the  idea,  that  property  holders  could 
really  give  their  incomes  into  the  common  fund ;  and  yet  retain, 
or  have  allowed  to  them,  the  privilege  of  voting  in  proportion 
to  such  contributions,  as  if  private  shares  of  stock  in  joint-stock 
companies.  It  must  be  remarked  here,  that  he  calls  all  these 
different  organizations,  "  communities" ;  and  the  totality  of  them 
all,  fie  calls  a  republic. 

And  we  may  add  here  also,  that  if  worthy  Corporations  would 
apply  to  the  civil  governments,  and  obtain  complete  charters  and 
independent  rights ;  such  rights  would  probably  be  respected  in 
ALL  after  times,  whether  by  friends  or  enemies.  Perhaps  such 


328  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  I.  II. 

Corporations,  of  a  limited  communistic  kind,  are  yet  to  be  the 
principal  arks,  whereby  "the  elect"  are  to  be  saved  from  the 
deluge  of  LEVELLING  fire,  that  may  perhaps  sweep  over  the 
world,  before  many  centuries  have  elapsed.  But  as  far  as  such 
independent  and  peace  rights,  can  be  obtained  from  govern 
ments,  so  far  of  course,  the  Corporations  are  bound  to  abstain 
from  participation  in  the  affairs  of  the  enclosing  government. 
And  this  is  just,  what  our  theory,  in  part,  insists  upon,  namely, 
the  duty  of  civil  governments  to  GRANT,  but  not  for  societies  to 
take  without  permission. 

•Mr.  Ballou  does  not  use  our  word  Corporation,  but  wre  use 
this  word,  all  along  (in  speaking  of  his  theory,  as  also  of  our 
own);  the  better  to  show  the  points  of  connection  between  the 
two  theories,  as  we  desire  to  point  out  their  connections,  as  well 
as  their  differences. 

Mr.  Ballou's  ideal  was,  to  transform  all  the  local  governments  of 
the  whole  Nation,  into  Corporations  of  persons  who  should  adopt 
ALL  his  fundamental  principles.  And  a  part  of  this  ideal  seems 
to  have  been,  that  its  complete  success  would  ultimately  dispense 
Avith  the  use  of  a  national  government  altogether.  But  this  is  a 
fundamental  error :  the  Corporation  cannot  displace  nationality, 
because  the  Corporation  is  a  part  of  the  Tribe-element,  and 
therefore  cannot  fulfill  at  most,  more  than  all  the  functions  of 
the  Tribe-principle, — and  therefore  at  most,  can  only  fulfill  the 
functions  of,  or  displace,  Social  Circle  and  Precinct. 

(g)  Calvin  Blanchard.  As  a  set-off  to  Mr.  Ballou's  views,  let 
us  print  some  of  the  dying  words  of  Mr.  Blanchard,  the  Posi- 
tivist,  an  old  chum  of  Greeley.  He  says,  "The  ' Philosophers' 
and  '  Literati'  will  hardly  believe  my  asseveration,  that  within  a 
few  years  past,  I.  have  sent  forth  among  unassuming,  common 
sense  people,  books  and  pamphlets  to  this  purport,  written  by 
myself,  to  the  extent  of  more  than  250  thousand.  *  ::  *  Aided 
by  the  social  architects  who  have  preceded  me,  I  have  fully  dis 
covered  and  demonstrated,  that  the  whole  world  will  be  united 
under  the  government  of  those  who  will  be  guided  by  the  con 
stitution  manifested  in  Human  Nature,  and  by  the  laws  with 
which  they  will  thoroughly  acquaint  themselves,  in  relation 
thereto, — to  the  entire  exclusion  of  all  other  so-called  constitu 
tions  and  laws.  *  *  *  By  studying  the  said  true  constitution 


ARGUMENT.     ANTICIPATIONS,  BY   WRITERS.  329 

and  laws,  they  will  find  out  and  put  into  practice,  the  great  Art 
of  Arts,  whereby  the  perfect  happiness  of  every  then  and  thence 
forth  human  being,  will  be  completely  secured ;  as  they  will  also 
find  out,  that  only  by  continuing  that  practice,  can  they  secure 
their  own  happiness.  So  intimately  are  Mankind  connected, 
they  form  one  Unitary  Being.  *  *  :  The  Science  of  Sciences, 
and  Art  of  Arts,  —  the  crowning  triumph  of  Nature  through 
Art, — will  be  the  organization  of  the  whole  world,  including  it 
and  all  its  inhabitants,  in  one  Joint  Stock"  [not  common  stock] 
"Corporation,  that  will  guarantee  perfect  happiness  to  every 
human  being  who  shall  then  exist,  or  thenceforth  come  into 
existence."  (!) 

The  great  objections  to  this  view  of  Mr.  Blanchard,  are, 
(1)  that  it  entirely  ignores  two  essential  elements  of  society, 
namely,  Precinct  and  Nation.  Corporation,  we  admit,  is  ca 
pable  of  fulfilling  nearly  all,  but  yet  not  quite  all,  of  the  func 
tions  of  civil  government.  And  (2)  that  it  seems  to  give  too 
much  prominence  to  the  joint-stock  principle,  as  compared  with 
communism.  (3)  The  greatest  error  of  all,  is,  in  supposing  that 
any  one  Corporation  could  answer  all  the  wants  of  even  any  one 
person.  The  great  good  that  Corporations  can  accomplish,  is 
obtainable  by  their  multiplicity,  and  by  the  consequent  choices 
which  they  would  thus  present  to  everybody,  everywhere.  It  is 
even  possible,  that  Corporations  may  rise  in  generality,  so  as  to 
become  really  wTorld-wide ;  but  not  possible  nor  desirable,  that 
any  ONE  or  even  any  very  few  Corporations,  should  absorb  all 
the  others.  See  this  train  of  thought  pursued,  in  the  Third 
Main  Division  of  this  article. 

(h)  School  of  the  French  Empire.  In  the  school  .of  higher 
studies  of  the  French  Empire, — (says  the  Journal  of  Social 
Science  of  the  Am.  Assoc.  for  1869), — there  has  been  established 
so  lately  as  January,  1869,  in  "  the  section  of  economic  sciences," 
a  course  which  includes  the  history  "  of  commercial  and  indus 
trial  ASSOCIATIONS."  These  of  course,  virtually  are  Corpora 
tions  ;  and  in  Europe,  pretty  "  close"  ones,  too. 


330  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  II.  I. 


SUB-DIVISION    II. 

EIGHT   OF   GOVERNMENTAL   CORPORATION. 
CHAP.  I.      STATEMENT   OF   POSITION. 

When  writers  say  that  citizens  have  full  right  to  meet  and 
form  laws  for  THEMSELVES  ;  they  SAY,  for  themselves,  but  MEAN, 
for  each  other;  and  so,  they  entirely  confuse  Individual-obe 
dience  with  social  obedience.  What  is  wanted  is,  some  legal 
authority ;  not  that  would  give  one  class  of  persons,  control  over 
another,  nor  even  one  class,  control  over  its  own  members,  with 
out  their  consent;  but  that  would  only  give  classes  and  societies, 
control  over  their  own  members,  so  far  as  each  Individual  or 
Family  had  first  joined  any  such  society,  and  promised  obe 
dience  to  it,  as  the  civil  government  he  or  they  would  choose 
and  prefer,  first  among  all  the  possible  or  convenient  ones  that 
were  within  their  opportunities. 

Some  Corporations  have  one  kind  of  power,  and  others 
another  kind;  but  within  only  voluntary  limits.  Churches 
rule  partly  over  marriage  and  divorce,  partly  over  morality, 
and  partly  over  benevolence.  Classes  and  Social  Circles  rule 
partly  over  the  same  vital  points  of  discipline.  And  the  great 
fraternal  beneficial  societies,  as  Free  Masons,  Odd  Fellows, 
Orders  of  Temperance,  &c.,  also  exercise  their  respective  shares 
of  authority.  The  Trade-Corporations,  whether  of  the  wage- 
classes  or  of  the  capitalists,  govern  their  respective  matters,  by 
rules  fast  settling  into  legality.  The  municipal  law  cannot  put 
down  the  trade-unions,  and  has  even  to  acknowledge  the  cus 
toms  of  merchants,  as  constituting  "the  Law  Merchant";  and 
so  on.  And  then  the  Municipal  boroughs  exercise  the  local  mu 
nicipal  authority,  over  a  few  external  matters,  other  than  those 
which  pertain  to  the  geographical  economy ;  for  this  geograph 
ical  economy,  in  any  case,  must  be  left  to  some  local  authority, 
until  indeed  every  Precinct  itself  becomes  a  moral  unit,  by  nat 
ural  segregation, — in  which  case  the  difference  between  abstract 
Corporation,  and  local  borough,  would  become  eliminated. 
Now,  what  our  theory  of  Corporations,  asks  and  argues  for,  is, 


ARGUMENT.  RIGHTS,  IN  GENERAL.          .331 

the  right  and  freedom  for,  and  the  expediency  and  practicability 
of,  actually  introducing  Corporations  which  shall  accomplish 
several  or  all  of  these  functions,  in  ONE  organization ;  yet,  with 
out  destroying  the  freedom  of  the  Individual,  because  he  would 
always  be  left  free  to  change  his  membership  to  any  other  Cor 
poration  that  would  freely  accept  him.  What  we  ask  for  then, 
is,  the  institution  of  whole  Corporations  for  whole  uses,  instead 
of  or  beside,  only  fractional  Corporations  for  only  fractional  uses. 

There  is  an  analogy  here,  to  the  argument  in  Precinct,  Part 
I.  Chap.  II.  §  1.  Various  Counties  and  Districts  are  found  ex 
isting,  and  possessing  separate  special  and  local  "  privileges,"  as 
of  liquor,  dogs,  sheep,  police,  &c. ;  and  we  asked  for  every  Dis 
trict  to  be  allowed  all  these  privileges  at  once.  So  also  there 
are  various  Corporations,  as  we  have  seen,  for  securing  separate 
special  rights ;  one  Corporation  for  one  right ;  and  another  for 
another  right.  And  we  ask,  that  these  and  other  Corporations 
may  be  allowed,  which  shall  combine  provisions  for  guarding 
and  enforcing  as  many  rights  in  each  one  Corporation,  as  its 
members  choose  voluntarily  and  fairly,  to  unite  in  it  for.  And 
such  Corporations,  therefore,  would  take  cognizance  of  the 
"  Rights  of  Persons,"  as  well  as  also  of  the  "  Rights  of  Things." 

Nevertheless,  our  Corporation-theory  does  not  conflict  with 
the  doctrine,  that  Nations  and  Precincts  are  moral  personalities ; 
but  the  theory  affords  the  only  method,  whereby  that  doctrine 
can  be  justified  in  principle;  or  that  can  sustain  the  action  of 
the  local  authorities  as  Units,  in  the  face  of  the  world's  modern 
doctrine  of  liberty,  and  the  rights  of  the  Individual.  Either 
the  right  of  special  Corporations,  must  be  admitted  to  entitle  to 
exception  from  the  local  authority,  in  questions  of  vital  im 
portance,  wherein  Individuals  object ;  or  else  the  doctrine  will  be 
forced  upon  us,  that  all  governments  are  only  voluntary  Cor 
porations,  subject  alone,  only  and  entirely,  to  the  stipulated  con 
ditions  of  those  who  are  members ;  for  the  idea  of  "  subjects"  is 
passing  away,  with  that  absolutism  of  which  it  was  a  part. 

CHAP.  II.     EIGHTS   IN   GENERAL. 

Corporations,  according  to  Blackstone,  are  treated  in  law, 
merely  as  artificial  persons.  Here  is  wheVe  the  old  theory  of 
law,  seems  utterly  to  lack  the  capacity  of  appropriating  the  new 


332  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  II.  II. 

theory,  or  the  new  organs  of  society.  By  the  old  law,  a  Corpo 
ration  is  regarded  somewhat  as  a  slave  used  to  be;  that  is,  as 
an  Individual  without  any  natural  rights;  nay,  the  case  is  still 
harder  than  the  slave's,  for  the  very  existence  itself  of  a  Corpo 
ration,  and  not  only  its  rights,  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from 
statute  law.  No  progress  can  be  made,  of  any  great  impor 
tance,  until  law  proceeds  on  the  entirely  opposite  presumption, 
namely,  until  law  proceeds  on  the  presumption  that  Corporation 
is  one  of  the  great  and  abiding  elements  of  human  society ;  and 
that  men  have  a  natural  right  to  form  themselves  into  Corpo 
rations,  for  all  such  objects,  and  in  all  such  manners,  as  they  may 
choose ;  except  only  where  law  deems  it  wise  to  interpose  some 
special  restrictions.  And  this  freedom  of  Corporation  must  be 
held  in  its  widest  extent,  from  simple  partnership  upwards. 

It  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course,  not  only  that  all  charters 
should  be  general  instead  of  special,  but  rather  that  there  should 
be  no  charters  at  all,  except  the  legal  contract  between  the  par 
ties,  perhaps  duly  recorded.  It  follows  also,  that  the  few  re 
strictions  which  law  may  prescribe,  to  the  right  of  Corporations, 
should  be  as  general  as  the  nature  of  the  case  may  admit. 

The  right  of  political  Corporation,  is  fully  equal  to,  and  fully 
as  extensive,  in  the  abstract,  as  the  right  of  contract ;  but  in  the 
concrete  and  in  practice,  the  right  can  only  be  acknowledged  in 
proportion  as  human  society  becomes  convinced,  that  the  allow 
ance  of  the  right  will  not  injure  it.  The  question  is  not  merely 
whether  some  Corporations  may  not  attain  too  much  influence  in 
the  government ;  but  the  question  is,  whether  some  other  Corpo 
rations  may  not  also  be  raised,  more  than  sufficient  to  counteract 
the  dangerous  ones;  and  whether  freedom  of  Corporation,  like 
all  other  freedom  of  contract,  and  freedom  of  internal  commerce, 
and  we  may  even  say,  like  all  other  legitimate  freedom,  promotes 
the  general  good,  far  more  than  any  opposite  course  could. 

Corporation  being  voluntary,  is  an  expression  of  personal 
conviction,  and  thus  is  TESTIMONY.  As  such,  it  relieves  the 
mind's  passion  for  the  expression  and  maintenance  of  earnest 
convictions.  And  thus,  passions  and  opinions,  which  for  want 
of  sufficient  expression,  would  drive  Individuals,  Precincts  or 
Nations,  into  debates,  quarrels  and  wars, — will  steam  out,  boil 
over,  and  then  settle  down  into  quiet  permanent  Corporations. 


ARGUMENT.     RIGHTS,  NATURALNESS.  .     333 

Just  as  passions  in  the  Individual  settle  down,  but  become  all 
the  more  efficient,  when  they  become  principles ;  so  the  passions 
in  society  settle  down,  when  they  become  permanent  organiza 
tions. 

The  human  intellect  and  heart,  therefore,  unite  in  the  power 
ful  conviction,  that  the  right  of  Corporation  ought  to  be  free. 
In  fact,  the  very  claim  to  se{f-government,  is  a  mere  misnomer, 
a  delusion,  a  disguise  for  tyranny,  until  this  God-given  right  is? 
acknowledged  and  admitted,  in  all  its  divine  freedom  and  force. 

CHAP.  III.     RIGHTS   OF   NATURALNESS. 

Political  Corporations  are  really  more  natural  than  business- 
partnerships.  For,  when  persons  enter  into  any  business  to 
gether,  it  is  obviously  more  natural,  to  suppose  a  division  of 
labor,  so  that  some  engage  themselves  in  one  thing,  and  some  in 
another ;  also  more  natural  to  suppose  that  some  are  managers, 
and  some  not, — than  to  make  the  contrary  supposition.  The 
partnership  law,  that  all  the  partners  are  liable  for  all  things, 
and  have  right  to  do  all  things,  is  a  merely  arbitrary  enactment 
of  "law/7  which,  no  doubt,  was  one  among  the  many  means, 
whereby  the  old  Land-aristocrats  used  to  take  advantage  of  the 
industrial  and  commercial  classes. 

No  act  or  form  should  ever  be  construed  as  meaning  more 
than  it  fairly  expresses,  unless  when  in  each  case,  a  special  ac 
knowledgment  has  been  made,  that  such  act  or  form  shall  have 
such  extended  meaning.  According  to  this,  all  usual  or  simple 
partnerships  would  be  limited,  and  all  general  partnerships 
would  have  to  be  expressed  and  published  as  such.  The  duty 
involved  by  the  act  of  endorsing  promissory  notes,  might  at  first 
sight,  appear  to  be  an  exception  to  the  above  rule.  But  it  is  not ; 
because,  endorsement  means,  from  the  first,  that  the  last  holder 
received  the  paper  from  the  previous  holder,  and  therefore  has 
recourse  to  him,  if  it  be  not  "good."  What  "the  law"  arbitra 
rily  does,  is,  to  limit  this  recourse.  '  Endorsements  "  ab  extra," 
merely  for  the  sake  of  guaranteeing,  are  done  for  that  very 
purpose  impliedly ;  and  we  are  speaking  of  meanings,  all  along 
here. 

Accordingly  therefore,  even  birth  and  citizenship  in  any  coun 
try,  without  a  voluntary  acceptance,  and  the  means  thereof,  should 


334  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  II.  V. 

not  be  construed  to  involve  any  more  extension  of  duties  or 
rights,  than  what  are  absolutely  necessary  to  right  government. 
In  all  other  matters,  freedom  of  choice  should  be  allowed.  Ac 
cordingly,  the  free  right  of  Corporation  is  a  legitimate  conclu 
sion.  We  are  speaking  of  natural  right ;  and  grant,  that  there 
are  special  exceptions;  but  for  these  exceptions,  all  the  onus  (or 
burden)  of  proof,  lies  upon  those  who  maintain  them. 

CHAP.  IV.     EIGHTS   OF   INDIVIDUAL   SELECTION. 

Probably  the  strongest  isolated  argument  for  political  govern 
ment  by  Corporations,  is,  that  it  aifords  by  far  the  best  method, 
to  allow  of  governments  being  freely  chosen  and  selected  by 
their  citizens  individually.  Unless  there  is  acceptance  of  gov 
ernment  by  each  Individual,  spontaneously ;  in  other  words, 
unless  some  important  elements  of  unanimity,  enter  into  the 
acceptance,  and  into  the  organization  itself, — there  must  be  con 
siderable  self-delusion  or  sophism,  involved  in  the  term  SELF- 
government. 

Both  Spencer  and  Ruskin,  feeling  the  injustice  of  the  present 
organizations  of  society,  in  this  matter,  have  suggested  that  there 
must  be  some  methods  adopted  for  Individuals  to  ignore  or  avoid 
the  state.  And  the  method  of  government  by  Corporations,  seems 
to  be  the  simplest  and  easiest,  whereby  to  meet  this  difficulty. 
Instead  of  liberty  to  ignore  the  state,  we  propose,  liberty  to  change 
membership  of  one's  official  Corporation. 

CHAP.  V.    RIGHTS   OF   CONSCIENCE. 

Freedom  of  conscience  demands  the  freedom  of  Corporation. 
There  cannot  be  permanent  peace  in  the  world,  and  we  had 
almost  said  there  ought  not  to  be;  until  the  claim  of  human 
beings  to  tyrannize  over  each  other,  has  become  utterly  refuted; 
and  the  right  established,  of  men  to  form  themselves  freely,  ac 
cording  to  their  own  consciences  and  judgments,  into  their  own 
political,  civil,  and  municipal  organizations.  And  this  can  only 
come  to  pass,  when  the  right  of  Corporations  is  generally  ad 
mitted,  and  its  practicability  and  expediency,  generally  known 
and  acted  upon  by  governments. 

The  modern  conscience  in  regard  to  war,  demands  the  freedom 
of  Corporation.  The  practice  and  duty  of  an  ordinary  govern- 


ARGUMENT.     RIGHTS,  CONSCIENCE.  335 

merit  in  time  of  war,  is  one  of  peculiar  trial,  in  regard  to  the 
treatment  of  persons  who  refuse  to  co-operate  in  the  war.  Con 
scientious  objections  are  easy  to  urge,  in  order  to  escape  Indi 
vidual-duty.  Those  persons  whose  declamations  had  produced 
the  war,  those  who  want  to  profit  by  it,  and  even  those  who 
would  fight  or  work  on  the  other  side,  if  they  had  a  convenient 
opportunity, — all,  find  it  easy  to  urge  conscientious  scruples. 
But  Peace-Corporations,  duly  established,  present  a  fair  and  just 
means  of  avoiding  the  difficulty ;  and  if  the  country  were  in 
vaded,  would  be  respected  even  by  the  enemy,  under  the  press 
ure  of  the  sanctions  of  Christianity,  and  of  International  Law. 
And  the  knowledge  that  the  enemy  would  respect  the  Peace- 
Corporatio^s  as  neutrals,  takes  away  the  strongest  inducement 
of  the  home-government  for  impressing  their  Individual-mem 
bers  into  "the  service,"  or  of  devastating  their  territory. 

Multitudes  of  our  best  citizens  believe,  that  government  can 
not  succeed  without  supporting  and  teaching  religion,  and  are 
endeavoring  to  engraft  religion  into  "the  Law";  but  unless 
they  wish  to  force  their  own  religions  on  other  people,  there 
only  remains,  besides  separation  into  Precincts,  the  resource,  of 
government  by  voluntary  Corporations. 

It  is  only  by  our  system,  either  of  Precincts  or  of  Corpora 
tions,  that  Individuals  or  societies  can  easily  and  legitimately  be 
released,  from  suffering  taxation  for  works  which  they  utterly 
reprobate ;  only  thus  can  the  peace-men  escape  war-taxes ;  or 
the  members  of  one  religious  education,  escape  the  expenses  of 
others ;  or  those  who  support  their  own  sick  or  poor,  from  the 
expense  of  supporting  the  others,  &c. 

But  release  from  the  taxation  on  foreign  imports,  could  not 
easily  be  allowed  to  Corporations  of  persons  scattered  as  to 
locality,  except  for  the  articles  imported  for  their  corporate  use, 
or  at  any  rate,  for  such  as  the  Corporation  itself  should  take  out 
of  the  Custom's  Bonded  Warehouse,  or  out  of  their  bonded  cars 
or  vessels,  and  should  divide  to  its  own  members  for  their  use; 
or  such  as  they  divided  to  others  in  charity.  And  perfect  relief 
from  .the  foreign  part  of  the  tax,  could  only  be  accomplished  by 
the  Precinct  itself,  whose  complete  knowledge  of  all  the  doings 
of  its  members,  and  whose  established  reputation,  would  or 
might  make  its  release  from  foreign  tax,  both  safe  and  judicious. 


336  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  III.  I. 

But  this  is  a  very  transcendental  application,  neither  probable, 
practicable,  nor  judicious,  for  a  long  time  yet  to  come:  although, 
the  United  States  government  has  tried  the  plan  of  rail-road- 
cars  under  custom  house  locks ;  but  neither  human  nature,  nor 
political  nature,  seems  to  us,  good  enough  yet,  for  such  methods 
to  be  allowed  in  common  use. 


SUB-DIVISION    III. 

ADVANTAGES    OF    GOVERNMENTAL    CORPORA 
TIONS. 

CHAP.   I.    ADVANTAGES    COMMON    TO    PRECINCT   AND    CORPO 
RATION. 

§  1.  In  General 

When  considering  the  Precinct,  we  found  that  much  of  what 
it  involved  and  demanded,  could  be  explained  and  obtained  by 
means  of  Corporation.  So  now,  having  come  to  the  latter,  we 
find  also  that  much  of  what  it  involves  and  demands,  can  be 
explained  and  obtained  by  means  of  the  former.  The  special 
arguments  for  the  Precinct  were,  in  nature,  of  two  kinds.  One 
kind,  related  to  locality,  and  depended  on  that ;  the  other  kind, 
related  to  the  principles  of  things,  abstract  entirely  from  locality. 
These  latter  kind  of  arguments  are  they,  which  are  equally  as 
applicable  to  Corporation  as  to  Precinct. 

§  2.  Recapitulation  from  the  Precinct. 

Let  us  now  recapitulate  from  the  Precinct,  in  their  order,  the 
chief  arguments  thus  applicable  to  both  elements.  Demanded 
by  the  history  of  our  own  country,  to  ameliorate  the  ever  in 
creasing  evils  of  largeness  of  population  :  Allow  all  necessary 
adaptations :  Derive  light  and  regulation  from  international 
law :  Admit  of  Amalgams  with  other  Corporations :  Resemble 
the  system  of  the  United  States,  inasmuch  as  the  Army,  the 
Navy,  the  Arsenals,  the  Navy  Yards,  the  Revenue  offices,  the 
Post  offices,  are  virtually  national  Corporations :  Encourage 
Arbitration,  both  inward  and  outward  of  the  Corporation :  Re 
quire  temporary  Restrictions  during  the  transitional  period  of 
their  introduction  :  Separate  the  special  politics  and  parties,  from 


ARQ.    ADVANTAGES  COMMON  TO  PRECINCT  AND  CORP.        337 

the  national  ones:  TKey  are  elements  of  the  Tribe-principle, 
and  are  needed  by  the  theory  of  the  Essential  Elements :  The 
natural  right  of  Individuals  to  form  them,  is  such,  that  the 
burden  of  proof  lies  upon  the  persons  who  would  deny  it :  They 
make  Social  Circles  practicable : — Produce  some  of  the  effects 
of  differences  of  geographical  location  :  Produce  in  the  world, 
whatever  there  is,  of  progress,  in  industry,  in  public  works,  in 
chivalry,  in  religion,  in  humanity  and  in  cosmopolitan  associa 
tion  :  The  variety  in  God's  creation ;  parts  crossing  and  inter 
twining  within  parts :  The  progress  from  homogeneity  to  hetero 
geneity :  The  development  of  new  and  special. organs  for  every 
function  :  New  concentrations  of,  and  diffusions  of,  power :  So 
ciological  .experiments :  Ready  changes  of  membership,  from  one 
to  another :  The  objects  and  uses  of  Law :  The  release  from  legal 
force,  by  cultivating  the  powers  of  SELF-government  in  the  In 
dividual  :  The  Preparation  in  the  Family :  Moral  homogeneity 
in  associations  :  The  spontaneous  social  punishments :  The  mul 
titude  and  minuteness  of  governmental  affairs :  Government  by 
the  parties  directly  interested :  Uses  of  competition :  Political 
objects  and  uses  :  Making  personal  acquaintanceship  and  direct 
voting,  possible :  Preventing  corruption  :  Preventing  specialties 
of  law  by  the  superior  governments:  Promote  human  happi 
ness:  Tend  to  release  people  from  the  local  sufferings  whose 
causes  they  have  protested  against :  Cultivate  freedom  of  thought : 
Secure  Individual  liberty :  Aljow  a  degree  of  ignoring  of  the 
state :  Harmonize  with  human  nature,  like  seeking  like ;  and 
thus  resemble  the  law  of  Heaven :  Are  demanded  by,  and  in 
turn  promote,  Morality  and  Religion :  Make  personal  supervi 
sion  and  visitations,  practicable  and  complete :  Foster  religious 
education  according  to  the  rights  of  conscience :  Make  Ruskin's 
and  others7  ideals  practicable :  Take  the  sting  out  of  persecu 
tion  :  Introduce  the  advantages  of  the  Tribe  and  its  relations  : 
Promote  " stirpi-culture"  and  the  introduction  of  improved 
breeds  of  human  beings :  Solve  the  political  and  legal  difficul 
ties  about  divorce :  Are  the  complements  of  each  other :  Cor 
porations  mitigate  the  absoluteness  of  Precinct  separation  or 
segregation,  and  its  consequent  narrow-mindedness :  They  have 
no  opening  for  the  idea  of  secession ;  Yet  mitigate  the  abso 
lutism  of  national  power :  Make  reactions  more  visible,  but  less 


338  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  III.  I. 

severe :  Open  the  way  for  cosmopolitan  Unions :  Have  precedent 
in  the  Tribe  of  Levi ;   And  in  the  various  local  charters  from 
superior  powers  :   And  supply  the  special  needs  of  large  cities. 
§  3.  Power  to  Resist  the  oppressive  and  centralizing  tendencies  of 
Modern  Society. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  all  Local  governments,  to  suppress  in 
dividuality,  and  to  oppress  the  Individual.  Mill  describes  this 
tendency  as  follows  : — (In  Pol.  Econ.  V.  xi.  3,  he  says) : — "A 
general  objection  to  government-agency  is,  that  every  increase 
of  the  functions  devolving  on  the  government,  is  an  increase  of 
its  power,  both  in  the  form  of  authority,  and  still  more,  in  the 
indirect  form  of  influence.  *  *  *  Experience  proves  that  the 
depositaries  of  power,  who  are  mere  delegates  of  the  people,  that 
is,  of  a  majority,  are  quite  as  ready  (when  they  think  they  can 
count  on  popular  support),  as  any  organs  of  oligarchy,  to  assume 
arbitrary  power,  and  encroach  unduly  on  the  liberty  of  private 
life.  The  public  collectively  is  abundantly  ready  to  impose,  not 
only  its  generally  narrow  views  of  its  interests,  but  its  abstract 
opinions,  and  even  its  tastes,  as  laws  binding  upon  Individuals. 
And  the  present  civilization  tends  so  strongly  to  make  the  power 
of  persons  acting  in  masses,  the  only  substantial  power  in  society; 
that  there  never  was  more  necessity  for  surrounding  Individual- 
independence  of  thought,  speech  and  conduct,  with  the  most 
powerful  defences;  in  order  to  maintain  that  originality  of  mind, 
and  individuality  of  character,  which  are  the  only  sources  of  any 
real  progress,  and  of  most  of  the  qualities  which  make  the  human 
race  much  superior  to  any  herd  of  animals.  *  *  *  Where  public 
opinion  is  sovereign,  an  Individual  who  is  oppressed  by  the  sov 
ereign,  does  not,  as  in  most  other  states  of  things,  find  a  lival 
power,  to  which  he  can  appeal  for  relief;  or  at  all  events,  for 
sympathy."  Hence  we  say,  comes  the  necessity  to  allow  those 
persons  who  sympathize,  to  segregate  themselves  freely. 

To  the  position  of  Mill, — expressed  above,  and  more  formally 
asserted,  "On  Liberty":  namely: — "The  tendency  of  all  the 
changes  taking  place  in  the  world,  is  to  strengthen  society,  and 
to  diminish  the  power  of  the  Individual," — Mulforcl,  p.  273, 
replies  :  "  It  is  presented  with  no  historical  evidence."  (Mul- 
ford  has  a  favorite  way  of  dismissing  obstinate  objections,  by 
charging  them  with  being  u  abstractions"  :  pages  v.  bis,  and  vi., 


ARGr.    ADVANTAGES,  PECULIAR  TO    CORPORATIONS.          339 

and  2, 11,  bis,  19,  24,  etc.;  and  yet  his  is  the  most  abstract  work 
on  Social  Science,  perhaps,  since  Comte's).  Mulford  asserts — 
'*  the  age  of  the  higher  national  development  of  England,  was  the 
age  also  of  Shakespeare,  of  Raleigh,  of  Bacon,  of  Milton";  just 
as  if  England's  great  period  of  Nationality,  namely,  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.,  had  not  passed  away  a  half  a  century  or  more, 
before  these  worthies  appeared.  But  after  all,  it  is  of  little  con 
sequence,  whether  centralization  and  high  nationality,  does  or 
does  not  produce  a  FEW  greatest  men.  Mill's  argument  refers, 
not  to  effects  on  isolated  Individuals,  but  to  effects  on  the  gen 
erality.  The  two  cases  are  entirely  different;  and  it  may  be 
true  to  some  extent,  in  state,  as  it  is  in  church,  that  the  periods 
of  highest  churchism,  are  those  which  develop  the  very  best 
persons  individually;  but  yet  in  such  few  numbers,  that  the 
other  condition  of  things  is  happiest  for  the  generality,  in  the 
common  course.  Judaism  produced  the  prophets,  and  finally, 
during  its  most  perverted  formalism,  developed  the  Messiah, 
(humanly  speaking).  And  some  of  the  saints  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  of  the  middle  and  later  ages,  are  perhaps  not 
surpassed  by  any  since  the  closing  of  the  canon.  But  thence 
forth,  of  what  value  in  comparison,  is  an  occasional  Horace  or 
Virgil,  a  Shakespeare  or  Dante,  to  the  general  happiness,  or  the 
general  freedom,  of  a  whole  people  ?  Mr.  Mulford  says,  "  The 
country  may  be  called  the  more  free,  which  has  roads  open 
through  it;  but  it  is  not  the  more  free,  when  one  person  is 
always  required  to  take  a  road  through  the  valley,  and  one, 
always  to  ride  on  the  hills."  But  we  reply,  that  the  same  per 
son,  when  he  has  a  carriage  or  is  on  foot,  ought  to  pass  a  dif 
ferent  road,  from  what  he  should  when  he  has  a  dung  wagon, — 
still  (it  seems  to  us),  the  freedom  is  impaired,  if  dung  wagons  are 
allowed  always  to  travel  along  the  roads  where  other  vehicles, 
and  foot  passengers,  are  going.  But  the  freedom  of  these  cen- 
tralizers,  is,  one  road  for  all,  namely,  the  NATIONAL  Passenger 
Railroad,  with  ONLY  ONE  TRACK. 

CHAP.  II.    ADVANTAGES   PECULIAR   TO   CORPORATION. 

§  1.  Analogies  in  Biology. 

Physiology  seems  to  show,  that  there  are  floating  through  all 
living  creatures,  both  vegetable  and  animal,  certain  germs  of  life, 


340  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.      T.  III.  II. 

which  have  the  power  of  reproducing  particles  like  themselves. 
And,  by  the  freedom  of  these  particles  to  unite  with  others,  of  a 
like  or  homogeneous  kind,  all  growth  and  reproduction  are  ac 
complished.  All  depends  «upon  the  perfect  freedom  of  the  par 
ticles,  as  they  float  along  in  the  blood,  to  unite  together  easily, 
according  to  their  own  attractions.  Just  so,  every  Individual- 
human  being  may  be  regarded,  according  to  our  type-theory,  as 
a  particle  flowing  along  with  the  general  current;  but  there  can 
be  no  growth,  and  no  progress,  unless  there  is  freedom  for  these 
particles  to  unite  together,  drop  out  of  the  current,  and  form 
new  organisms.  And  this  means  freedom  of  Corporation. 

Corporations  are  the  only  political  bodies  of  society,  which 
have  the  power  of  generation  by  "  gamogenesis,"  instead  of  by 
"  agamogenesis."  (For  the  physical  doctrines  and  illustrations, 
see  Spencer's  Biology,  2 ;  6 :  4,  5,  6,  &c.)  This  method  is  in 
definitely  less  at  variance  with  growth,  than  the  other  method. 
It  is  also  the  method  whereby  all  the  higher  plants  and  animals 
generate.  To  illustrate  this : — when  a  local  division  tal^es  place, 
whether  of  Precinct  or  of  Nation,  the  sum  of  the  two  parts,  in 
each  cas3,  is  only  equal  to  what  the  whole  was,  previous  to  the 
division.  But  it  is  not  so  in  Corporations.  A  subdivision  will 
make  both  more  efficient,  because  it  introduces  division  of  labor, 
and  more  specialty  of  organ  for  function.  And  these  are  im 
provements  without  any  counteractive  evils,  scientifically  speak 
ing.  Furthermore,  the  division  of  Corporations,  makes  both 
parts  more  desirable  to  the  members  of  other  Corporations,  some 
to  one  part  of  the  division,  and  some  to  the  other ;  and  this 
makes  both  parts  draw  members  from  other  Corporations.  But 
this  is  only  competition,  and  therefore  only  a  temporary  and 
transitional  good.  The  former  mentioned,  is  the  eternal  good. 
And  Individuals  can  be  members  of  more  than  one  Corporation ; 
just  as  children  have  more  than  one  parent,  and  parents  more 
than  one  child ;  reciprooally. 

§  2.  Prevention  of  War. 

One  great  an  1  peculiar  advantage  possessed  by  Corporations, 
is,  that  whereas,  reyolutions  and  divisions  in  Local  governments 
are  usually  accomplished  only  through  war  and  blood, — revo 
lutions  and  divisions  in  Corporations,  are  accomplished  quite 
peaceably,  and  even  charitably.  The  chief  reason  for  this  dif- 


ARG.    ADVANTAGES,  PECULIAR   TO   CORPORATIONS.         34! 

ference,  seems  to  be,  that  the  human  propensity  to  tyrannize, 
manifests  its  true  nature  so  much  more  baldly  and  nakedly,  in 
Corporations,  than  in  Localities,  that  it  is  at  once  suppressed  as  a 
preposterous  "vice  of  blood," — instead  of  being  nurtured  and  wor 
shiped  as  a  divine  patriotism,  or  as  an  Egyptian  Cat,  or  as  some 
other  fetish: — or  as  Carlyle  might  say, — "  Jewish  old  clothes." 

The  Philadelphia  "Ledger,"  Feb'y  8,  1871,  in  an  article  on 
"Friends'  Principles,"  says,  "We  accord  all  honor  to  the  'sin 
gular'  men  who  devote 'themselves  to  presenting,  in  plain  terms, 
plain  truths  against  ingenious  sophistry.  They  are  '  advanced 
pickets/  '  skirmishers'  in  the  struggle  for  peace :  and  the  main 
body  of  the  great  and  peaceful  army  of  thinking  men,  is  fast 
closing  up.  So  far  as  the  claims  of  men  as  men,  whether  Galled 
citizens  or  subjects,  are  recognized,  just  so  far  the  hope  of  the 
cessation  of  war  is  encouraged."  We  have  already  presented  a 
similar  thought,  under  the  head  of  Right  of  Corporation. 
§  3.  Inconceivable  for  Secession. 

Another  great  and  peculiar  advantage  belonging  to  Corpora 
tion,  compared  with  Precinct,  is,  that,  Corporation  not  being  co 
extensive  with  Locality,  the  secession  of  Localities  is  not  only 
impracticable  or  impossible,  as  shown  under  PRECINCT;  but  also, 
is  really  and  utterly  inconceivable;  under  a  system  of  Corpora 
tions,  or  as  an  effect  or  consequent  therefrom ;  and  this  Ele 
ment,  therefore,  is  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of  insuring 
against  said  secession. 

§  4.  Self -Counter  actions.  Inherent  in  all  Voluntary  Combina 
tions. 

Every  class,  when  left  to  itself,  has  its  own  counteractions 
within  itself;  knows  what  evidences  of  fact  and  of  veracity  to 
require,  and  what  oscillations  to  provide  for;  knows  its  own 
temptations,  its  own  protections,  and  its  own  moral  supports. 
It  is  only  when  the  cry  is  raised  of  class  against  class,  that  all 
the  natural  self-regulating  powers,  are  overwhelmed  and  swept 
away,  by  the  rush  of  angry  class-animosities.  And  yet  it  is 
equally  certain,  from  the  Zo-ological  nature  of  human  society, 
also  according  to  our  theory  of  types,  that  the  interests  of  each 
of  these  classes  would  evolve  suitable  forms,  each  for  themselves, 
under  a  proper  general  government,  if  they  were  only  allowed 
freely  to  do  so. 


342  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.      I.  III.  II. 

§  5.  Necessary  Harmony  of  all  the  Parts  of  Society. 

What  Schleiermacher  said,  and  is  quoted  by  Neander,  that  all 
the  denominations  of  Christians  are  necessary,  to  exhibit  the 
perfect  development  of  Christ  and  the  church, — may  be  applied 
equally  well  to  the  different  Corporations,  which,  under  the  free 
dom  of  Corporation,  would  arise  among  the  politicians,  and  in 
the  state.  And  all  are  necessary  to  exhibit  the  full  and  com 
plete  development  of  humanity,  and  society,  and  of  humanity  IN 
society.  Freedom  of  civil  and  political  Corporations,  is  equally 
as  right,  as  necessary,  and  as  practicable,  as,  of  church  Corpora 
tions. 

The  church  analogy  exhibits  all  the  various  classes  of  society 
as  intermingling,  sometimes  in  the  same  Corporation ;  and  gen 
erally  in  the  same  one  locality,  even  when  the  different  churches 
themselves  organize  according  to  classes  or  Social  Circles.  In 
this  analogy,  so  long  as  it  shall  hold  good,  we  have  proof  of  the 
success  of  Corporations  during  an  intermingling  era.  Hence, 
if  our  argument  for  the  gradual  passing  away  of  the  intermin 
gling  era,  as  presented  under  Precinct,  in  II.  X.  1,  should  be 
entirely  rejected, — then  our  Corporations  come  in  with  addi 
tional  strength  of  argument,  as  capable  of  most  of  the  political 
advantages  of  Precincts,  yet  without  interfering  with  the  friendly 
intermingling. 

§  6.   Culture  of  the  Individual. 

Mr.  Mill  points  out  certain  needs  of  human  nature,  increasing 
amid  the  tendencies  of  modern  civilization, — which,  we  think 
no  other  means  of  satisfying  can  be  discovered,  so  efficient,  as 
recognizing  the  freedom  of  Corporation. 

Mr.  Mill,  (Pol.  Econ.  p.  573),  says  : — "  Experience  proves  the 
extreme  difficulty,  of  permanently  keeping  up  a  sufficiently  high 
standard  of  those  qualities,  (the  diffusion  of  intelligence,  activity 
and  public  spirit,  among  the  governed),  a  difficulty  which  in 
creases,  as  the  advance  of  civilization  and  security,  removes,  one 
after  another,  of  the  hardships,  embarrassments  and  dangers, 
against  which  individuals  had  formerly  no  resource  but  in  their 
own  strength,  skill  and  courage.  It  is  therefore  of  supreme 
importance,  that  all  classes  of  the  community,  down  to  the 
lowest,  should  have  much  to  do  for  themselves ;  that  as  great  a 
demand  should  be  made  upon  their  intelligence  and  virtue,  as  it 


ARG.    ADVANTAGES,  PECULIAR   TO   CORPORATIONS.         343 

is  in  any  respect  equal  to ;  that  the  government  should  not  only 
leave,  as  far  as  possible,  to  their  own  faculties,  the  conduct  of 
whatever  concerns  themselves  alone,  but  should  suffer  them,  or 
rather  encourage  them,  to  manage  as  many  as  possible  of  their 
joint  concerns,  by  voluntary  co-operation ;  since  this  discussion 
and  management  of  collective  interests,  is  the  great  school  of 
that  public  spirit,  and  the  great  source  of  that  intelligence  of 
public  affairs,  which  are  always  regarded  as  the  distinctive  char 
acter,  of  the  public  of  free  countries." 

Here  it  seems  plain  to  us,  that  there  are  certain  needs  in 
human  nature,  which  are  increasing  so  much  in  modern  civiliza 
tion,  that  no  other  means  to  supply  them  can  be  discovered,  so 
efficient  as,  on  the  one  hand,  the  Precinct-system  that  we  have 
proposed,  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  system  of  free  Corporations 
that  we  are  now  advocating, — and  chiefly  the  latter,  because  it  is 
susceptible  of  such  indefinite  extension.  Thus  we  see,  that  civ 
ilization  is  producing  new  functions ;  but  has  already  indicated, 
and  begun  to  put  forth,  the  organs  that  are  necessary  to  perform 
them. 

§  7.  The  "De-facto"  argument. 

In  other  parts  of  this  work,  we  endeavor  to  show,  that  what 
ever  is  a  fixed  fact  in  society,  ought  to  be  recognized  as  such,  in 
the  laws,  and  by  the  government;  and  that  whatever  govern 
ment  acts  contrary  to  this  principle,  only  stultifies  itself,  as  an 
organism,  and  produces  misery  to  Individuals.  Hence,  all  the 
instances  that  we  offer,  of  the  existence  of  virtual  Corporations, 
good,  bad,  and  indifferent, — combine  under  this  principle  of 
government,  to  prove  the  right  and  necessity  of  their  freedom 
and  legal  recognition. 

All  the  foreigners  of  any  one  Nation  are,  virtually,  Corpora 
tions  of  their  own  Nation,  but  dwelling  in  another.  And  just  as 
Asiatic  Russia  is  a  conglomerate  of  many  Precincts,  of  essentially 
different  nationalities,  so  the  United  States  is  a  conglomerate 
of  many  virtual  Corporations,  of  essentially  different  nationali 
ties.  These  Corporations,  to  be  sure,  are  not  recognized  in  law, 
otherwise  than  by  publishing  legal  documents  in  their  different 
languages ;  still  the  distinctions  exist,  and  are  even  stronger  be 
tween  clans  speaking  the  same  English  language,  than  between 
those  speaking  different  ones.  And  it  must  be  admitted,  with 


314  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  III.  II. 

shame  to  ourselves,  that  those  settlements  of  foreigners  which 
have  been  most  compact  and  self-secluded,  have  preserved  their 
morality  best;  whatever  might  be  said  about  their  lack  of 
progress. 

Civil  governments  are  actually  conducted  and  swayed,  by 
secret  leagues  and  cliques,  which  are  Corporations  in  fact ;  and 
\Ahich  transmit  their  authority  from  age  to  age,  except  as  dis 
placed,  from  time  to  time,  by  the  same  kinds  of  cliques  of  other 
parties.  There  are  leagues  of  persons  engaged  in  "humbug 
ging"  the  people  in  their  recreations,  or  poisoning  them,  in  their 
amusements,  with  rum  or  vice.  There  is  also  a  tyrannical  sort 
of  gentlemen,  who  even  incorporate  themselves  into  rings  and 
clubs,  as  the  actual  but  secret  rulers  of  the  community.  Much 
worse  than  these  also,  are  the  permanent  cliques  of  professional 
criminals,  which  are  known  to  embrace  various  distinct  classes: 
as  for  instance,  cliques  of  counterfeiters;  in  which,  will  be  man 
ufacturers,  wholesale  purchasers,  retail  purchasers,  transitory 
venders :  and  there  are  cliques  of  burglary ;  professional  oper 
ators  of  many  grades,  transient  operators,  receivers  of  stolen 
goods,  of  all  grades,  from  large  financial  securities,  down  to  old 
iron.  All  these  organizations  are  of  the  nature  of  Corporations. 
Since  then,  criminals  incorporate  themselves  to  break  the  laws, 
and  since  all  the  rogues  and  outlaws,  gamblers,  and  parasites  in 
society,  everywhere,  make  leagues,  either  formal  or  actual,  foV 
mutual  offence  and  defence,  and  for  bribing  legislators,  judges 
and  police  executive  officers; — why  should  not  plain  citizens  in 
corporate  themselves  in  their  own  way,  to  protect  themselves, 
and  to  choose  government  and  rulers  and  laws  for  themselves, 
and  defend  themselves  from  these  barbarians,  who  make  it  their 
business  to  war  upon  society,  rob  industry,  and  strike  down 
peace  and  order  ?  and  all  this,  oftentimes,  by  the  connivance  of 
the  same  wretched  gentlemen,  who  are  the  loudest  in  crying 
"stop  thief";  and  who  befool  the  people  with  the  longest  and 
tangledest  laws,  they  can  quibble  up  together. 

Thus,  Corporations  are  getting  to  have  the  actual  power ;  and 
it  would  be  better  to  make  them  legal,  else  the  bad  have  the  ad 
vantage  of  them,  rather  than  the  good ;  and  the  worse  the  asso 
ciations  are,  the  more  defiant  their  power  becomes.  Because,  so 
long  as  the  freedom  and  right  of  Corporations,  are  crippled  by 


ARG.    ADVANTAGES,  PECULIAR   TO   CORPORATIONS.         345 

law ;  so  long  the  fearful  fact  will  continue,  that  the  lower  down 
in  the  moral  scale,  and  the  more  thoroughly  contrary  to  law, 
each  such  association  is,  the  more  thoroughly  compact  and  effi 
cient  its  o<  rporate  character  will  be.  In  other  words,  so  long  as 
law  limits  the  natural  and  moral  right  of  Corporation,  the  worse 
a  Corporation  is,  the  more  proportional  power  it  will  have. 
§  8.  Classes  most  Needing  Separate  Political  Corporations. 

Persons  who  are  diverse  in  their  sentiments  on  important  or 
agitating  subjects,  cannot  understand  each  other;  nor  can  the 
peculiar  results  of  each  party's  system,  be  exhibited,  whilst  the 
persons  are  continually,  either  checking  each  other,  or  annoying 
each  other.  Nor  can  a  government  for  daily  life,  adopt  forms 
of  police  and  courts  and  trials  and  evidence  and  watching,  that 
can  apply,  either  rightly  or  effectively,  to  all  these  different 
kinds  of  people.  What  to  some  is  galling  tyranny,  to  others  is 
the  blessing  of  self-control ;  to  others,  the  blessing  of  civiliza 
tion  ;  and  to  others,  the  blessing  of  religion :  the  oaths  that 
some  regard,  others  despise ;  and  the  honor  that  holds  some  true 
to  humanity,  is  to  others,  a  nice  "chance"  for  dishonesty,  selfish 
ness,  or  deceit. 

Where  a  government  is  elected  by  the  people, — any  classes  of 
persons  who  are  too  distant,  in  customs,  politics,  or  religion,  to 
receive,  read,  and  enjoy,  a  proper  government-press,  giving  a 
fair  representation  to  all  sides,  and  to  all  views, — are  too  dis 
tant  morally,  to  reside  in  the  same  Precinct,  or  to  assemble 
peacefully  and  orderly  at  the  same  polls.  The  only  other  alter 
native  would  be,  the  introduction  of  this  system  of  Corpora 
tions,  and  its  development  to  its  widest  capabilities,  and  highest 
functions ;  so  that  no  persons  could  vote  for  any  councils,  or  on 
any  matters,  affecting  the  other  party,  or  the  other  religion; 
except  those  who  could  be  trusted  by  their  political  or  spiritual 
advisers,  to  read  and  hear  all  sides  fairly  expressed  :  and  on  the 
other  hand,  those  persons  who  did  thus  read  in  common  and 
freely,  should  not  have  the  control  over  those  who  were  con 
scientiously  opposed  to  or  afraid  of,  thus  reading ;  so  far  at  least, 
as  ingenuity  and  fairness  can  contrive  plans  of  avoiding  such 
objectionable  control,  without  vitiating  the  direct  operations  of 
government. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  portions  of  society,  who  are, 


346  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.     I.  III.  II. 

or  think  they  are,  in  most  immediate  need  of  the  privilege 
of  organizing  themselves  into  plenary  political  Corporations, 
especially  in  the  cities  and  more  dense  settlements : — Calvinists, 
Roman  Catholics,  Methodists,  Quakers  and  other  Interiorists, 
Peace-parties,  Spiritualists,  Unitarians,  Rational  religionists.  In 
fidels,  Chinese,  and  perhaps  Africans  generally.  Also,  may  be 
added  Women  in  general,  if  they  are  to  exercise  political  func 
tions  at  all ;  but,  do  not  put  respectable  women  into  Precincts 
for  females  alone.  Others  needing  the  separation,  are,  Disgraced 
young  people  born  without  wedlock  ;  penitent  women  ;  reformed 
criminals,  and  convicts  released  from  punishment;  and  in  gen 
eral,  all  who  are  particularly  good,  particularly  bad,  particularly 
bigoted,  particularly  liberal,  or  otherwise  particularly  singular. 

§  9.  Comparison  with  Individuals,  as  -Officials. 
We  return  now  to  a  different  train  of  thought,  namely,  to  Cor 
porations  as  organs  of  society,  as  the  exercisers  of  derived,  or 
bestowed,  political  functions.  Corporations  possess  many  advan 
tages  peculiar  to  themselves,  over  Individuals,  as  organs  of  so 
ciety.  Even  in  the  simplest  form  of  small  partnerships,  many 
of  these  advantages  become  very  apparent.  First  then  ;  Cor 
porations  are  the  new  organs  for  the  new  functions  of  modern 
society.  Thus  the  old  age  of  society  becomes,  like  its  infancy, 
the  restoration  of  the  fullness  in  unity,  of  the  Tribe.  Second ; 
Their  officers  are  free  from  the  over-strong  ties  of  personal  in 
terest,  which  naturally  arise  against  large  payments,  or  onerous 
duties,  especially  if  unexpected.  Third  ;  We  have  the  argu 
ment,  that  history  gives  us  instances,  wherein  strictly  govern 
mental  functions  have  been  entrusted  to  Corporations.  Fourth ; 
As  all  such  organizations  originate  in  a  free  and  voluntary  action 
of  their  corporators,  they  select  themselves  really,  from  a  judg 
ment  of  their  own  fitness.  Fifth ;  And  then  again,  the  officers 
of  such  organizations  are  selected  by  the  corporators,  with  the 
judgment  of  persons  well  able  to  know  about  them.  Sixth  ; 
In  this  judgment,  the  corporators  necessarily  back  up  and 
guarantee  their  judgment,  not  only  by  their  reputation,  but  also 
by  the  amount  of  their  capitals,  or,  respective  interests  invested ; 
and  thus  make  their  responsibility  perpetual.  This  is  a  respon 
sibility  seldom  imposed  upon,  and  seldom  possible  in  the  case 
of,  Individual-officials,  and  would  be  reasonably  exacted  from 


ARGUMENT.     PRACTICABILITY.     IN   GENERAL.  347 

Corporations,  but  not  from  Individuals.  A  sufficient  applica 
tion  of  this  rule,  would  put  political  Corporations  upon  their 
very  best  efforts  to  regulate  themselves  harmoniously,  which  is 
far  more  than  can  be  said  of  Individual-politicians.  Seventh ; 
They  are  not  so  liable  to  be  interrupted  by  death.  Eighth;  They 
tend  to  prevent  villany;  because  no  collusions  for  evil,  between 
different  persons,  can  be  so  unrestricted,  nor  so  safe  from  detec 
tion,  as  the  secret  thought  in  one  man's  soul.  Although  such  is 
their  natural  tendency,  and  what  might  be  secured  in  them,  by 
proper  sociological  skill ;  yet,  in  fact,  they  often  do  worse  things 
than  an  Individual  would  do.  This  is  partly  because  their 
officers  are  allowed  to  shield  themselves  under  the  plea  of  official 
duty.  But  this  very  feature  might  be  so  made  use  of,  that  many 
of  the  repulsive  works  of  society  might  be  accomplished  by  those 
means,  much  better,  than  by  the  direct  action  of  civil  or  political 
rulers. 


SUB-DIVISION    IV. 

PKACTICABILITY   OF   GOVERNMENTAL    CORPO 
RATIONS. 

CHAP.  I.    IN   GENERAL. 

To  discuss  the  practicability  of  Corporations  perfectly,  .the 
subject  would  divide  itself  into  two -parts ;  one,  the  method  of 
their  action,  and  the  means  whereby  they  manifest  their  practi 
cability  ;  the  other,  a  series  of  abstract  arguments  and  analogies, 
to  show  this  practicability.  As  to  the  methods  and  means  of 
action ;  they  will  be  treated  among  the  objects  in  view,  and  will 
be  again  treated  in  the  Third  Main  Division  and  its  sub-divisions. 
Nothing  need  be  said  of  them  just  now,  except  this  call  of  atten 
tion.  As  to  the  abstract  arguments ;  many  of  them  are  involved 
in  what  has  already  been  said ;  namely,  in  the  facts  of  history ; 
in  the  opinions  of  the  great  writers  on  Social  Science ;  in  the 
doctrines  of  the  right  and  the  expediency ;  in  the  analogies  of 
Biology;  in  the  instinctive  organizations  of  Mankind,  even  the 
illegitimate  ones ;  and  in  the  classes  of  men  ready  and  waiting. 


348  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  IV.  II. 

And  above  all  other  arguments  or  reasons,  we  have  faith  that 
what  is  RIGHT,  is  certainly  PRACTICABLE,  if  we  are  only  willing 
for  it.  We  now  turn  to  and  touch  upon,  the  abstract  argu 
ments,  and  the  analogies,  showing  practicability. 

CHAP.  II.    ABSTRACT   ARGUMENTS. 

§  1.  Ill  Success  of  Local  Governments  in  Other  Businesses. 

Scarcely  anything  is  more  certainly  agreed  upon  in  Social  Sci 
ence,  than  the  proposition,  that  whatever  business,  commercial, 
literary  or  social,  that  men  do  or  can  do,  with  any  tolerable  suc 
cess  voluntarily ;  they  can  and  will  do  much  better  thus  volun 
tarily,  than  government  itself  can  do,  or  than  they  themselves 
would  do,  by  any  legal  or  any  other  coercion  whatever.  Now, 
all  that  our  theory  of  Corporation  proposes  to  do,  is,  to  accept 
this  well  established  principle,  and  to  apply  it  to  the  business  of 
government  itself.  We  say, — true, — men  can  conduct  any  busi 
ness  voluntarily,  far  better  than  government  can,  and  therefore 
they  can  thus  carry  on  the  business  or  function  of  government 
itself,  by  spontaneous  organizations  within  the  Nation,  and  within 
the  Precinct.  Thus  Mr.  Mill,  (Political  Economy,  Book  5,  ch. 
xi.  §  5)  says, — "  In  all  the  more  advanced  communities,  the  great 
majority  of  things  are  done  worse  by  the  intervention  of  gov 
ernment,  than  the  Individuals  most  interested  in  the  matter, 
would  do  them,  or  cause  them  to  be  done,  if  left  to  themselves. 
The  grounds  of  this  truth  are  expressed  with  tolerable  exactness 
in  the  popular  dictum,  that  people  understand  their  own  busi 
ness  and  their  own  interests,  better  than  the  government  does, 
or  can  be  expected  to  do.  This  maxim  holds  true  throughout 
the  greatest  part  of  the  business  of  life;  and  Vherever  it  is  true, 
we  ought  to  condemn  every  kind  of  government  intervention, 
that  conflicts  with  it.  The  inferiority  of  government  agency, 
for  example,  in  any  one  of  the  common  operations  of  industry, 
or  commerce,  is  proved  by  the  fact,  that  it  is  hardly  ever  able  to 
maintain  itself,  in  equal  competition  with  Individual-agency; 
where  the  Individuals  possess  the  requisite  degree  of  industrial 
enterprise,  and  can  command  the  necessary  assemblage  of  means. 
All  the  facilities  which  a  government  enjoys,  of  access  to  in 
formation,  all  the  means  it  possesses  of  remunerating  and  there 
fore  of  commanding,  the  best  available  talent  in  the  market, — 


ARGUMENT.     PRACTICABILITY.    ABSTRACT.  349 

are  not  an  equivalent  for  the  one  great  disadvantage  of  an  in 
ferior  interest  in  the  result." 

"  It  must  be  remembered,  besides,  that  even  if  a  government 
were  superior  in  intelligence  and  knowledge,  to  any  single  Indi 
vidual  in  the  Nation,  it  must  be  inferior  to  all  the  Individuals 
of  the  Nation,  taken  together.  It  can  neither  possess  in  itself, 
nor  enlist  in  its  service,  more  than  a  portion  of  the  acquirements 
and  capacities  which  the  country  contains,  applicable  to  any 
given  purpose.  There  must  be  many  persons  equally  qualified 
for  the  work,  with  those  whom  the  government  employs,  even 
if  it  selects  its  instruments  with  no  reference  to  any  considera 
tion  but  their  fitness.  Now  these  are  the  very  persons,  into 
whose  hands,  in  the  cases  of  most  common  occurrence,  a  system 
of  Individual-agency  naturally  tends  to  throw  the  work,  because 
they  are  capable  of  doing  it  better,  or  on  cheaper  terms,  than  any 
other  persons.  So  far  as  this  is  the  case,  it  is  evident,  that  gov 
ernment,  by  excluding  or  even  by  superseding  Individual-agency, 
either  substitutes  a  less  qualified  instrumentality,  for  one  better 
qualified ;  or  at  any  rate,  substitutes  its  own  mode  of  accom 
plishing  the  work,  for  all  the  variety  of  modes  which  would  be 
tried  by  a  number  of  equally  qualified  persons,  aiming  at  the 
same  end ;  a  competition  by  many  degrees  more  propitious  to 
the  progress  of  improvement,  than  any  uniformity  of  system." 
§  2.  Intermingling ', — Not  Confusion. 

The  difficulties  and  confusions  that  might,  at  first  sight,  be 
supposed  to  be  insuperable — on  account  of  the  intermingling  in 
one  Locality,  of  persons  belonging  to  different  municipal  and 
political  Corporations, — could  readily  be  counteracted;  in  some 
things,  by  artificial  regulations,  and  in  other  things,  by  the  natu 
ral  differences  that  would  arise  in  the  course  of  time.  Nothing 
that  man  makes,  can  be  perfect  at  the  start.  The  functions  of 
time  must. not  be  forgotten.  The  same  ingenuity,  and  homo 
geneity  of  humanity,  that  devise  Inter-National  and  Inter- 
Precinct  law,  would  also  devise  Inter-Corporation  Law. 

Perhaps  even  the  residents  of  adjoining  Precincts,  should 
wear  different  dresses.  At  any  rate,  such  a  custom  should  be 
required  of  all  Individuals  who  were  members  of  different 
governmental  Corporations  for  general  civil  purposes,  whilst 
residing  in  the  same  districts.  Varieties  of  dress,  as  here  pro- 


350  BK-  IV-    COKPOBATION.      I.  IV.  II. 

posed,  together  with  such  varieties  of'  manners,  habits,  &c.,  as 
would,  in  time,  probably  arise  and  be  visible,  both  as  cause  and  as 
effect  of  connection  with  such  Corporations, — would  make  differ 
ences  which  would  be  almost  as  plain  to  the  casual  observer,  as 
differences  of  sex  or  race ;  or  at  least,  as  are  easily  perceived  be 
tween  the  countryman  and  the  citizen,  or  between  the  out-door 
and  in-door  workers,  &c.  And  the  degree  in  which  the  differ 
ences  could  be  made  plain,  would  facilitate  the  duties  of  the 
civil  government  towards  each.  Instances  of  the  arising  of  such 
differences,  may  be  remembered,  as  characteristic  of  the  Puri 
tans,  the  early  Methodists,  and  of  the  Quakers  even  at  the 
present  day.  Spencer  has  also  shown  how  naturally  the  polit 
ical  differences  of  men,  express  themselves  in  their  differences  of 
clothing,  gait,  and  other  apparently  trivial  signs. 

§  3.  Buskin's  Specimen  of  Methods. 

Mr.  Ruskin  has  a  beautiful  and  practicable  picture,  of  a 
method  of  trade  Corporations,  for  preventing  cheating  in  the 
manufacture  or  sale  of  "sham"  goods.  He  says  (pp.  87-8); — 
"  The  chief  difficulty  in  the  matter  would  be,  to  fix  your 
standard.  This  would  have  to  be  done  by  the  guild  of  every 
trade,  in  its  own  manner,  and  within  certain  easily  recognizable 
limits.  *  *  *  Advisable  improvements  of  varieties  in  manufac 
ture,  would  have  to  be  examined  and  accepted  by  the  trade 
guild  ;  when  so  accepted  they  would  be  announced  in  public 
reports ;  and  all  puffery  and  self-proclamation,  on  the  part  of 
tradesmen,  absolutely  forbidden,  as  much  as  making  any  other 
kind  of  noise  or  disturbance."  [We  hope  the  "  disturbances"  to 
be  stopped,  include  advertisements  in  Directories  and  other  such 
inappropriate  places.] — "  But  observe,  this  law  is  only  to  have 
force  over  tradesmen  whom  I  suppose  to  have  joined  VOLUNTA 
RILY,  in  carrying  out  a  better  system  of  commerce.  Outside  of 
their  guild,  they  would  have  to  leave  the  rogue  to  puff  and 
cheat  as  he  chose,  and  the  public  to  be  gulled  as  they  chose.  All 
that  is  necessary  is,  that  the  said  public  should  clearly  know  the 
shops  in  which  they  could  get  warranted  articles ;  and  as  clearly, 
those  in  which  they  bought  at  their  own  risk."  But  now,  this 
writer  must  say,  that  as  yet,  unless  each  such  guild  had  power 
by  law,  to  punish  those  of  its  own  members  who  transgressed 
and  cheated,  whilst  they  were  sailing  under  the  flag  of  the  guild; 


ARGUMENT.     PRACTICABILITY.     EXISTING   INSTITUTIONS.     351 

then  the  use  of  the  guild  would  soon  be  destroyed  by  the  rush  of 
hypocrites  into  it ;  and  the  better  its  reputation  was,  before  the 
rogues  got  into  it,  the  more  they  could  profit  by  it,  until  discov 
ered  and  exposed.  And  to  give  the  guilds  such  power,  is  just 
what  we  are  asking  to  be  given  to  one  class  of  Corporations. 
Mr.  Ruskin  advocates  the  punishment  to  be  "  confiscation  of 
goods,"  and  this  admits  the  principle  we  are  arguing  for ;  but 
not  at  all  to  the  extent  that  we  suppose  to  be  necessary. 

CHAP.  III.      ANALOGOUS  COMPLEXITIES  SUCCESSFUL. 

§  1.  Analogy  with  Philadelphia. 

If  it  be  thought  that  any  one  of  our  (or  indeed,  any  other) 
systems  of  Corporations,  would  be  too  complicated  for  practical 
purposes,  we  would  answer ;  they  need  not  be  any  more  compli 
cated  in  structure,  than  our  own  present  government,  or  than  the 
British.  Take  for  instance,  our  own  city  Philadelphia,  in  the 
year  1872.  It  is,  somehow,  made  to  consist  of  an  almost  un- 
classifiable  multiplicity  of  Voting  Precincts,  City  Wards,  Dis 
tricts  for  State  Legislature,  and  for  State  Senate,  for  Fires,  and 
for  Police,  and  for  Congress  of  the  United  States.  We  vote  for 
our  State  Governor  every  three  years,  and  for  President  every 
four  years.  And,  in  general,  the  divisions  cross  each  other  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  so  complicated  as  to  baffle  the  book  learning  of 
foreigners,  while  in  practice  they  are  perfectly  familiar  to  our- 
w  selves.  We  have  a  series  of  items,  not  often  multiples  of  each 
other  in  figures,  and  still  less  frequently  so,  in  localities ;  neither 
are  they  related  to  each  other  as  genera  and  species,  nor  even  as 
opponents. 

Here  then,  we  have  a  city  divided  into  28  Wards,  with  28 
Select,  and  58  Common  Council-men,  7  Fire  Districts,  18  Dis 
tricts  for  State  Assembly,  4  Districts  for  State  Senate,  5  for 
United  States  Representatives,  one  of  which  stretches  into 
another  county  !  The  city  municipal  administration  is  divided 
into  "  Departments,"  "  Committees,"  and  " Trusts" ;  of;  Police; 
Treasury ;  Control ;  Tax ;  Law  ;  Market ;  Survey ;  Registry ; 
Highway  ;  Water ;  Gas ;  School ;  Health  ;  Girard ;  Poor ; 
Prison ;  Refuge ;  and  Port.  The  Nation  has  on  the  same 
ground,  a  Custom  House, — (The  business  in  the  Custom  House 
alone,  is  so  complicated,  and  requires  to  be  performed  at  so 


352  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      I.  IV.  III. 

many  successive  "  Desks/'  that  a  considerable  number  of  per 
sons  called  custom-house  brokers,  find  ample  employment  in 
preparing  the  papers  for  sea  captains  and  merchants,  and  in 
"  putting  them  through"  the  rounds) : — a  Naval  Department ;  a 
Surveyor's-;  an  Appraiser's-;  an  Assistant  Treasurer's-;  an 
Internal  Revenue- ;  and  a  Post-,  Office ;  also  a  Mint ;  a  Navy 
Yard ;  and  an  Arsenal.  All  national  property  and  offices,  are 
exempt  from  city  and  state  interference, — a  set  of  Corporations 
in  the  Precinct,  yet  of  Imperial  authority.  Besides  all  these 
•regularly  instituted  organizations ;  we  have  an  indefinite  num 
ber  of  spontaneous  and  voluntary  Social  Circles,  Party  Clubs 
and  Conventions,  Temperance,  Mechanics'  and  Beneficial,  So 
cieties,  Trades-unions,  Churches,  Communities,  Brotherhoods, 
Militia,  and  Fire  Companies;  "Boards"  or  "Exchanges,"  of 
Trade,  of  Brokers,  of  Coal,  of  Corn,  of  Real  Estate,  &c.  All 
these  interlap  each  other  in  every  conceivable  direction. 

And  now,  finally  to  settle  disputes  among  all  these,  and  the 
members  of  them,  we  have,  partly, — the  reserved  power  in  the 
agreements  of  several  of  the  associations  and  boards ;  also  a 
series  of  legal  courts  as  follows; — The  County,  (exactly  the 
same  geographically  as  the  city,)  has,  besides  the  "Row"  of 
officers,  a  body  of  Judges,  who  incorporate  themselves  into 
three  different  forms  of  County  courts,  viz.: — Common  Pleas, 
Orphans',  and  Criminal.  Then, — there  are  a  State  District 
Court,  a  State  Supreme  Court,  and  a  National  Circuit  Court, * 
with  right  of  appeal  in  certain  cases  to  the  National  Supreme 
Court  at  Washington.  All  this  is  complicated  enough ;  but  we 
know  by  experience,  "  it  is  nothing  when  you  get  used  to  it." 
We  also  know  how  readily  children  learn  the  most  complicated 
languages,  when  they  begin  during  infancy. 

§  2.  Analogy  with  the  Roman  Church. 

But  the  completest  illustration,  of  a  united  and  harmonious 
system  of  Corporations  in  great  multiplicity,  is  found  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  Here  is  a  system  that  is  not  learned 
in  infancy.  Omitting  those  parts  of  it,  which,  while  adhering 
to  Rome,  yet  adhere  not  to  the  Latin  "  rite," — we  may  divide 
its  organizations  purely  ecclesiastical,  abstract  from  the  civil 
organs,  into  FOUR  different  or  main  Divisions,  all  operating  one 
within  another.  We  will  mention  thorn  in  an  order,  such,  that 


ARGUMENT.     PRACTICABILITY.     EXISTING   INSTITUTIONS.     353 

each  subsequently  named  one,  operates  WITHIN  AXL  the  pre 
viously  named  ones,  thus ;  FIRST.  The  usual  church-orders  of 
Priests,  Bishops,  Archbishops,  &c.  These  have  territorial  loca 
tions,  one  within  another.  SECOND.  The  Corporate  Orders, 
operating  within  the  territories  of  the  above ;  yet  exempt  from 
their  jurisdiction,  by  express  general  authority  from  the  supreme 
head  of  their  church,  but  yet  dependent  upon  said  territorial 
officials  for  their  spiritual  offices  or  "  faculties."  THIRD.  The 
special  delegates  of  the  supreme  authority;  as  Vicars,  Legates, 
and  so  on.  FOURTH.  Appellate  authorities,  namely,  the  Pope, 
and  General  Councils.  All  these  operating  on  each  other  re 
spectively,  in  the  order  mentioned.  And  now,  to  this  complica 
tion,  let  us  add  a  brief  summary  of  the  varieties  of  authorities 
and  operators,  IN  each  of  those  four  main  divisions  of  their 
authorities. 

FIRST  Main  Division  of  Authorities.  The  varieties  of  the 
usual  orders  of  Local  Officials,  or  Ordinaries,  with  their  re 
spective  councils.  First  we  have  a  regular  gradation,  Bishops, 
Archbishops,  Primates.  Next  we  have  two  sorts  of  irregular 
classes,  namely,  Metropolitans  and  Patriarchs. 

SECOND  Main  Division  of  Authorities.  The  CORPORATE 
Orders,  operating  within  the  territories  of  the  above.  These 
are  in  three  divisions,  namely,  the  Orders  of  Military  Monks, 
the  Religious  Orders,  and  the  "  Congregation"  Orders. 

First  Division  of  the  Corporate  Bodies :  The  Orders  of  Mil 
itary  Monks  include  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  The  Templars, 
The  Teutonic  Knights,  Orders  of  Alcantara,  &c.  But  those 
are  not  found  in  the  United  States. 

Second  Division  of  the  Corporate  Bodies:  The  Religious 
Orders,  are  of  four  sub-divisions,  namely :  The  Monks  Proper ; 
the  Friars  or  Mendicants ;  the  Canons  regular ;  and  the  Priests 
called  regular  Clerks.  Of  these  four  sub-divisions,  the  Monks 
Proper  are  of  two  kinds,  of  which  the  Eastern  may  be  omitted 
here.  The  Western  kind  occasionally  follow  the  Eastern  rule, 
namely,  of  St.  Basil ;  but  most  always  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict. 
This  kind  are  sit6-divided  by  a  great  variety,  as,  Carthusians, 
Cistercians,  Celestines,  Trappists,  <fec.,  &c.  The  second  sub 
division,  the  Friars  or  Mendicants,  are  divided  into  Dominicans, 
Franciscans,  Carmelites,  Augustinians,  &c.  The  third  sub-divi- 

23 


354  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.      I.  IV.  III. 

sion,  the  Canons  regular,  are  priests  administering  among  the 
people,  but  yet,  associated  under  special  rules  and  obligations 
of  strictness  of  life,  for  the  promotion  of  their  own  especial 
personal  sanctity.  They  are  of  two  kinds,  differing  as  to  the 
degree  of  their  abstraction  from  the  world,  and  as  to  their  re 
semblance  to  monks  in  their  private  life.  The  fourth  sub-divi 
sion,  consists  of  Priests  called  regular  Clerks.  They  differ  from 
the  regular  Canons,  in  not  following  so  strict  a  life,  or  at  least 
in  not  taking  any  such  strict  vows  as  the  others.  Some  of  these 
are  evidently  adapted  to  secular  operations,  as  for  instance  the 
Jesuits ;  others  are  followers  of  a  purer  and  more  spiritual  inte 
rior  piety,  than  is  often  found  in  or  out  of  the  Roman  Church, 
as  for  instance,  the  Theatines. 

The  Third  Division  of  the  Corporate  Orders,  is  "  the  Congre 
gations."  These  are  made  a  separate  order  from  the  "  religious 
orders,"  by  some  differences  not  well  understood,  but  which 
appear  partly  only  nominal.  The  "  Congregations"  exist  for 
various  purposes,  Education,  Asylum,  and  Missionary.  And 
these  divisions  for  purposes,  are  again  to  be  sub-divided  accord 
ing  to  the  classes  of  persons  to  be  influenced,  as  the  poor,  the 
paying  people,  the  rulers  of  society,  the  heathens,  the  unbe 
lievers  or  heretics,  and  finally  even  the  other  orders  of  clergy 
and  of  their  own  religion. 

The  THIRD  Main  Division  of  Authorities,  are ;  The  special 
delegates  of  the  supreme  authority,  as  Vicars,  Legates,  &c.,  &c. 
Of  these,  some  of  the  Vicars  are  regular,  and  located,  but  ex 
traordinary  in  their  powers.  Other  Vicars  and  the  Legates  are 
irregular,  and  only  appear  on  extraordinary  occasions,  represent 
ing  the  Pope,  investigating  facts,  hearing  causes,  and  pronouncing 
decisions, — by  direct  and  special  authority  from  the  Head.  These 
act  in  and  on,  both  the  foregoing  main  Divisions.  Moreover,  the 
Legates  and  Xuncios  act  on  and  with  the  civil  governments, 
officially. 

FOURTH  Main  Division  of  Authorities.  The  supreme  gov 
ernment  of  all  this  vast  system  of  Corporations,  consists  of 
three  elements,  namely ;  First,  The  Pope ;  Second,  Three  orders 
of  Cardinals,  namely,  Cardinal  Bishops,  Cardinal  Priests,  and 
Cardinal  Deacons;  Third,  The  General  Council.  The  Cardi 
nals  elect  the  Pope ;  and  the  Pope  selects  the  Cardinals.  He 


ARGUMENT.     PRACTICABILITY.     CONCLUDED.  355 

also  constitutes  the  General  Council,  and  appoints  its  times  and 
circumstances;  but  not  all  its  Individual-members  directly, 
although  indirectly,  as  he  appoints  or  confirms  to  the  offices 
which  constitute  membership  in  the  Council. 

All  this,  theoretically  seems  an  inextricable  tangle,  to  some 
people.  And  when  we  remember  ^fchat  many  of  the  foregoing 
orders,  are  themselves  highly  organized  bodies,  with  their  "  mother 
houses"  or  head-centers,  at  Rome, — we  have  an  additional  com 
plication,  apparently ;  but  the  fact  is,  it  is  this  very  thoroughness 
of  the  organizations,  which  prevents  complexity  in  practice.  All 
these  different  orders,  or  at  least  many  heterogeneously  self-locat 
ing  ones,  exist  and  operate  in  the  same  localities,  with  one  another, 
and  with  the  "ordinary"  clergy,  without  confusion.  No  royal 
family,  no  constitution,  no  dynasty,  no  Nation  in  a  continuous 
local  government,  except  the  Jewish  and  Chinese,  can  compare, 
either  for  its  own  durability,  or  for  the  certainty  of  its  opera 
tions,  with  this  great  world-wide  governing  Corporation.  And 
the  only  place  where  real  and  great  practical  uncertainty  arises, 
is,  where  organization  is  theoretically  simplest,  namely  at  the  head, 
— as  to  which  is  the  superior,  the  Pope,  or  the  General  Council. 

CHAP.  IV.     CONCLUSION   OF    PRACTICABILITY. 

The  fact  is  that  a  system  of  Corporations  for  government, 
would  in  all  probability,  be  less  complicated  IN  PRACTICE,  than 
our  present  civil  system.  But  even  if  more  complicated,  it  could 
easily  be  taught  and  explained  in  the  public  schools,  and  else 
where.  Moreover,  in  the  last  resort  we  may  say  that,  at  any  rate, 
legal  proceedings  require  learned  counsel  and  experienced  attor 
neys,  generally.  It  would  be  no  real  objection  to  the  system  of 
Corporation,  if  ordinary  Individuals  had  to  consult  "  good  ad 
vice,"  in  order  to  know  even  what  Corporations  they  had  better 
connect  themselves  with ;  just  as  they  would  consult  a  physician, 
as  to  what  medicine  they  should  take.  The  main  thing  to  be 
attained  in  law,  as  in  Medicine,  in  Mathematics  or  in  other  sci 
ences, — is,  not  simplicity,  but  certainty  and  uniformity  in  their 
results,  known  to  those  who  study  them,  and  who  are  able  to 
understand  them.  We  do  not  complain  that  we  are  compelled 
to  resort  to  Lawyers  and  Doctors  and  Clergymen,  for  advice ; 
but  we  complain,  that  the  expenses  are  great,  the  answers  con 
flicting,  and  the  results  uncertain. 


356  BK-  IV-   CORPORATION.  II.  I.  I. 


MAIN  DIVISION  II. 

GENERAL  SURVEY  OF  ALL  KINDS  OF 

CORPORATIONS,  ACCORDING  TO 

THEIR  SEVERAL  NATURES. 

SUB-DIVISION  I. 

RELATIONS    TO    THE    OTHER    ELEMENTS    OF 
SOCIAL    SCIENCE. 

CHAP.  I.    PREFACE. 

Having  in  the  preceding  Main  Division,  treated  of  the  argu 
ments  for  the  propriety,  right,  and  expediency,  of  Governmental 
Corporations;  and  before  giving  the  scientific  exhibition  and 
recital  of  them,,  which  are  reserved  for  the  Third  Main  Division ; 
we  proceed  now  to  give,  as  a  necessary  preparation  thereunto,  a 
general  survey  of  ALL  KINDS  of  Corporations,  according  to  their 
several  Natures. 

One  reason  for  laboring  hard  on  this  subject  of  Corporation, 
is,  that  the  right  of  Corporation  includes  within  it  the  right  of 
Precinct;  because  freedom  of  Politico-governmental  Corpora 
tion,  actually  becomes  freedom  of  Precinct,  to  persons  who  de 
sire  to  reside  in  special  Precincts;  so  that,  if  the  reader  has  not 
been  satisfied  with  the  arguments  for  the  Precinct,  upon  the 
grounds  which  have  been  made  under  that  head,  he  might  still 
be  induced  to  lend  assent  to  the  right  of  Precinct,  upon  perhaps 
not  so  deep  foundations,  but  yet  broader  and  more  comprehen 
sive  ones. 

.AYe  lay  great  stress  on  governmental  or  political  Corporations, 
and  feel  the  great  dependence  of  human  prosperity  and  progress, 
on  the  proper  understanding  and  practical  application  of  them. 
Such  Corporations  seem  to  give  hopes  of  real  and  absolute 
progress,  instead  of  hopes  always  to  be  disappointed,  and  hith 
erto  reaching  mostly  after  FORMS  of  government ;  whereas,  real 
progress  is  more  and  more  perceived  to  be,  not  dependent  on 


SURVEY.  GENERAL.  THE  OTHER  ELEMENTS.      357 

forms.  Corporation  is  not  any  ONE  FORM,  but  a  spirit,  an  eter 
nal  element,  and  an  inherent  power. 

Corporation  is  the  Seventh  Element  in  our  scale  of  the  Ana 
lytics,  namely,  Individual,  Family,  Social  Circle,  Precinct, 
Nation,  and  Mankind ; — and  then  as  another  genus,  Corporation. 
Hence,  Corporations,  as  the  SEVENTH  fundamental  or  Analytical 
element  of  human  society,  are  a  kind  of  sabbath  of  rest, — both 
to  the  fundamental  Elements  of  Society,  and  also  to  the  throes 
of  society  itself,  laboring  to  bring  forth  its  ideals  of  happiness, 
and  to  realize  its  divine  origin,  and  its  ultimate  ideal. 

In  a  Biological  classification,  Corporations  would  correspond 
to  brain  and  nerve  in  the  Individual ;  whereas  the  other  Ele 
ments  of  our  Analytics  would  correspond  to  the  less  recondite 
organs.  Corporations  fulfill  functions  towards  general  society, 
•  and  towards  the  state, — similar  to  what  the  personal  mental  and 
moral  qualities  or  peculiarities  of  the  Individual,  which  give 
rise  to  their  respective  Corporations,  fulfill  IN  the  Individual. 
Thus  the  delicate  sensitiveness  of  Corporations,  and  the  toler 
ance  given  to  them  by  the  state,  are  true  indications  of  the  in 
tellectual  and  moral  character  of  society,  and  of  the  state  at  large ; 
whether  for  better  or  for  worse. 

We  have  repeatedly  hinted,  in  the  Summary  Introduction, 
that  our  discovery  of  the  Six  Great  Units  of  Society,  originated 
in  and  from  three  Distinct  lines  of  thought.  These  three  trains 
of  thought,  when  brought  together  and  compared,  helped  to  per 
fect  each  other  severally,  and  to  corroborate  the  correctness  of 
them  all,  as  thus  perfected.  And  their  thus  perfecting  each 
other,  and  thus  correcting  one  another's  aberrations,  led  to  the 
discovery  of  the  Tribe-principle,  and  to  the  classifying  of  Cor 
poration  as  almost,  but  not  quite,  another  such  a  Unit. 

The  order  of  thought  was  about  as  here  given.  First  was 
discovered  the  value  of  several  of  them  as  types,  for  argument 
and  induction.  Second,  the  value  of  several  of  them  as  heads 
for  improved  classification.  And  third,  the  value  of  several,  as 
the  Great  Units  of  which  Society  consists.  But  it  was  not 
exactly  the  same  several,  whose  value  was  thus  discovered,  in 
each  case.  Towards  the  completion  of  the  discovery,  these  three 
severals  looked  about  as  in  the  annexed  table,  which  represents 
them  in  parallel  columns. 


358 


BK.  IV.      CORPORATION.      II.  T.  I. 


The  three  trains  of  thought  were  about  as  follows. 


As  Types. 
Individual 
Family 
Social  Circle 
Corporation 
Precinct 


As  Classification. 
Individual 
Family 
Social  Circle 
Corporation 
Precinct 
State 
Nation 
Mankind 


As  Units. 
Individual 
Family 


Nation 
Mankind 


Classification. 
Individual 
Family 
Social  Circle 
Precinct 
Nation 
Mankind 
Corporation 

Elements  of  Society. 
("Individual 
Family 
Instinctive,    )    1  Social  Circle 
i.e.  Units        j    |  Precinct 
|  Nation 
^  Mankind 
Deliberative,  }-  <[  Corporation 

The  three  lines  of  thought  finally  became  identified  as  fol 
lows. 

Types. 
Individual 
Family 
Social  Circle 
Precinct 
Nation 
Mankind 
Corporation 

The  differences  and  aberrations  were  corrected  about  as  fol 
lows.  The  Classification  only  called  for  the  elimination  of 
State,  which  was  not  on  either  side  of  it ;  or  rather,  its  identifi 
cation  with  Precinct,  which  was  already  in  two  columns ;  and 
then  it  contained  the  full  seven.  The  Types  allowed  of  Man 
kind  being  added  from  both  the  others,  being  as  Mankind  is  the 
ideal  anti-type,  towards  which  all  those  below  it,  point ;  and  as 
it,  in  turn,  is  typical  of  other  beings  in  other  solar  systems,  and 
also  typical' of  God  and  the  Universe.  And  then,  the  Types 
called  for  Nation  as  the  highest  earthly  type  of  Mankind.  Thus 
the  Type-line  amounted  to  the  full  seven.  All  that  then  re 
mained  therefore,  was  to  settle  the  Unit-Line.  But  as  Corpora 
tion  could  not  be  taken  as  a  Unit ;  both  for  lack  of  history  for 
it ;  and  for  the  reasons  given  in  Bk.  I.  Pt.  II.  Chap.  VI.  §  1 ; 
also  for  the  reasons,  that  Corporation  cannot,  without  remain 
der,  be  divided  into  all  the  Units  above  it,  nor  thus  evenly  be 
divided  by  all  the  Units  below  it;  therefore  Social  Circle  and 
Precinct  .had  to  be  taken,  as  the  needed  Units;  and  then  Cor 
poration  had  to  be  disposed  of  as  a  separate  Grand  Classifica 
tion  ;  and  therefore  had  to  be  placed  last  of  all ;  as  is  done  in 


SURVEY.  ELEMENT  OF  TRIBE.  359 

Bk.  I.  Pt.  I.  Chap.  IX.  §  4  (6),  and  throughout  our  whole  work. 
But  to  justify  this,  the  three  had  to  be  co-ordinated  in  the 
Tribe-principle. 

CHAP.  II.     CORPORATION   AS   AN   ELEMENT   OF   TRIBE. 

The  Tribe-Principle  originating  and  established,  as  above  and 
as  elsewhere  mentioned,  involves,  among  other  things,  the  per 
petual  recolleetion  of  the  principle,  that  Corporation,  for  pur 
poses  of  general  or  ungeneric  classification,  belongs  up  next  to 
Social  Circle  and  Precinct;  but  has  to  be  placed  LAST,  only, 
because  of  its  functions  in  the  Unit-column  :  and  because  of  being 
a  Fundamental  Element  of  society  itself,  it  has  to  be  placed 
apart  from  the  six  Units ;  and  of  course  it  could  not  be  placed 
before  Individual. 

This  explanation  seems  necessary,  because,  from  Corporation 
being  placed  at  the  top,  in  an  ascending  series,  some  persons  have 
wondered  if  we  meant  to  place  it  above  Nation :  whereas,  since 
we  place  it  after  Mankind,  they  ought  rather  to  have  wondered 
whether  we  meant  to  place  it  above  Mankind ;  and  that  wonder 
ought  soon  to  satisfy  itself  without  further  explanation :  And 
here  we  let  the  matter  rest. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  said,  that  our  theory  of  types  has  this 
extensive  meaning,  namely,  that  in  the  ascending  scale  of  the 
Six  Units,  each  one  is  a  type  of  all  those  that  are  higher  than  it. 
This  theory  itself  is  partly  an  inference  from  the  fact,  that  in 
the  historical  development  of  human  society,  as  new  units  are 
formed,  the  old  ones  are  still  always  retained ;  that  is  to  say, 
when  Families  have  been  formed,  the  Individuals  still  exist, 
and  when  tribes  have  been  formed,  the  Families  continue  to 
exist;  and  so  on  upwards.  Hence  it  follows,  that  when  the 
tribe  resolves  itself,  in  modern  society,  into  the  three  forms  of 
Social  Circle,  Precinct  and  Corporation,  all  those  Elements  must 
always  continue  in  living  action.  The  facility  with  which  these 
three  elements  of  Tribe,  change,  one  into  the  other,  or  substitute 
themselves  one  for  the  other,  has  been  sufficiently  remarked  upon, 
in  Bk.  I.  Part  II.  Chaps.  VIII.  and  IX.,  and  in  Bk.  II.  Part 
II.  Chap.  XII.  §  1,  and  elsewhere.  Hence  then,  we  must 
always  look  for  such  an  abiding  activity  of  the  Tribe-principle, 
and  of  the  Corporation-principle,  in  civil  governmsnt. 


360  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.      II.  I.  III. 

Moreover,  Corporation,  as  it  comes  after  the  six,  in  the  order 
of  the  Analytics,  is,  in  one  sense,  more  abstract  than  either  of 
them,  and  therefore  logically  more  general.  In  this  sense,  they 
are  all  types  of  it,  as  well  as  in  the  other  sense,  it  is  type  of  them. 

CHAP.  III.     LOGICAL   RELATIONS. 

The  old  saying,  that  government  has  no  rights  nor  duties  over 
Individuals,  except  to  prevent  them  from  injuring  others, — be 
comes,  in  our  theory,  changed  to  the  proposition,  that  government 
has  no  rights  nor  duties  over  Precincts,,  nor  over  governmental 
Corporations,  whether  local  or  general, — except  to  prevent  them 
from  committing  injuries,  either  on  other  .such  Precincts  or  Cor 
porations,  or  on  those  Individuals  who  have  a  just  claim  and 
right  to  depart  TO  such  others. 

Our  object  in  the  treatment  of  Corporations,  is  partly,  to  en 
deavor  to  point  out,  how,  nearly  all  the  civil  relations  can  be 
performed  better  by  them,  than  they  are  by  the  present  consolid 
ated  governments  of  the  world :  better,  in  fact,  than  they  can  be 
in  any  other  method,  unless  perhaps  by  going  forward  and  giving 
to  the  Precinct-governments  the  investiture  of  their  localities; 
with  that  fulness  of  power  which  our  Precinct-theory  endeavors 
to  point  out :  although  it  is  also  partly  our  object,  to  develop  a 
complete  theory  of  Corporations,  that  will  apply  to  their  con 
struction  within  the  Precinct,  so  far  as  they  are  needed,  and  even 
so  far  as  they  arc  possible,  there. 

Moreover,  the  variety  of  choices  between  the  different  kinds  of 
Corporations,  that  we  point  out,  becomes  important  to  be  remem 
bered,  because  we  thereby  obtain  different  classes  of  developments 
from,  and  of  hopes  in,  the  Corporation-theory.  And  as  the  density 
of  the  world's  population  increases  ;  nothing  is  more  certain  than, 
that,  both  the  increased  density,  and  also  the  increased  numbers, 
will  require  new  developments,  new  evolutions,  and  new  differen 
tiations, — of  all  the  various  kinds  of  associations,  political  as  well 
as  others.  And  Corporations  are  the  readiest  methods,  of  thus 
differentiating  and  evolving  ;  because  they  do  not  necessarily  re 
quire  change  of  residence,  nor  change  of  Location  for  any  purpose ; 
and  because  they  arise  with  much  more  freedom  and  directness, 
from  the  voluntary  powers  of  Individuals,  Families,  and  Social 
Circles;  and  with  less  interference  or  intervention  by  "the  law." 


SURVEY.  ELEMENTS.  REAL  RELATIONS.        361 

While  pointing  out,  however,  the  logical  relations  above 
mentioned,  we  all  along  incidentally,  in  the  treatment  of  this 
subject,  endeavor  to  establish  the  right,  the  utility,  and  the  prac 
ticability  of  the  General  Theory.  Furthermore,  we  endeavor 
incidentally  to  point  out,  for  all  these  general  doctrines,  the 
arguments  in  respect  to  two  other  special  doctrines,  namely;  one, 
that  all  virtual  Corporations  ought  to  be  recognized  by  municipal 
law ;  the  other,  that  fractional  uses  of  Corporations  ought  to  be 
turned  into  wholes,  and  that  fractional  Corporations  ought  to  be 
superseded  by  wholes.  But  yet  by  wholes,  we  do  not  mean  one 
whole  Corporation  for  all  departments  of  government}  or  for 
all  subject-matters  thereof;  but  mean,  systems  of  Corporations, 
such  systems  as  will  together  make  up  a  whole,  and  the  scien 
tifically  organized  parts  of  which,  may  therefore  be  called  wholes. 

OHAP.  IV.    REAL    RELATIONS. 

Corporation,  though  not  a  natural  Element  of  society,  in  the 
same  sense  that  the  others  are,  is  yet  none  the  less  absolutely 
fundamental,  in  the  higher  development  of  society, — and  even 
absolutely  necessary,  until  Mankind  arrive  at  a  state  of  per 
fection  both  of  the  Individual  and  of  society :  and  even  then, 
although  less  necessary,  it  would  be  quite  as  safe.  It  is  there 
fore  really  none  the  less  a  natural  Element  than  the  others; 
although  it  is  less  obviously  so.  For,  the  mere  fact  that  it  may 
be  dispensed  with  in  a  perfect  state,  is  no  argument  against  its 
being  natural ;  for  the  same  may  be  equally  true  of  the  Pre 
cinct  or  the  Nation  or  the  Social  Circle,  and  as  some  imagine,  of 
the  Family  itself.  For,  to  introduce  biological  illustrations,  the 
chrysalis  is  only  a  transition  from  the  egg  to  the  fly ;  but  yet 
it  is  a  natural  state.  So  also  the  time  of  fruitfulness  in  the 
female,  is  merely  transitional  between  puberty  and  a  more  ad 
vanced  state ;  but  still  it  is  natural.  Neither  can  Corporation 
be  deprived  of  the  attribute  natural,  on  the  ground  of  its  being 
voluntary ;  for  the  will  is  natural,  in  every  sense  that  the  word 
natural  can  be  applied  to  anything  metaphysical.  Furthermore, 
even  if  Corporations  could  be  dispensed  with,  in  a  perfect  state, 
yet  in  that  state  they  are  all  the  more  susceptible  of  the  highest 
developments,  and  of  the  highest  and  most  varied  uses  to  Man 
kind. 


362  BK.  IV.      CORPORATION.      II.  I.  IV. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Hamilton  has  suggested  the  idea,  of  the  church 
itself  as  THE  great  Unit  of  society.  But  this  of  course,  can 
only  be  true  of  that  Catholic  ideal-unit,  of  that  ideal  society, 
which  is  not  yet  formed.  Nevertheless,  in  a  government  con 
sisting  of  Corporations,  the  fundamental  importance  of  the 
church,  could  not  be  overlooked.  The  church,  that  is  to  say, 
the  SYSTEM  of  churches,  presents  us  the  grandest  and  most  im 
portant  system  of  Corporations  to  be  found  in  modern  times ;  a 
system  of  which  the  Roman  Church  organization  itself,  grand 
as  it  is,  is  only  a  part  and  a  type.  The  great  entrance  of  Chris 
tianity  consisted  in  changing  the  kingdom  of  God,  from  a 
Nation,  into  a  Corporation, — namely,  in  changing  its  "base" 
from  rectilinear  to  circular  functions. 

Again :  The  function  of  general  administration  is  more  suit 
able  to  a  Corporation,  than  is  any  single  function  of  govern 
ment;  not  only  because  local  and  even  national  government 
itself,  is  a  kind  of  unartificial  spontaneous  Corporation  ;  but 
also  because  a  common  Corporation,  being  a  leaf,  a  product,  a 
result,  of  miscellaneous  and  compound  government,  is  the  best 
FUNDAMENTAL  ANALOGY  for  it,  and  the  most  approved  kind  of 
a  type  of  it.  To  sum  it  up, — a  common  Corporation,  involving 
as  it  does,  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  functions  ;  and, 
both  elective  and  pecuniary  arrangements, — is  a  form  more  like 
a  complete  political  government,  than  almost  any  other  form. 

The  Declaration  of  our  Independence,  says,  "  All  men  are 
created  equal,  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  INALIENA 
BLE  rights,  such  as  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 
The  term  inalienable  expresses  the  idea  which  Mulford  regards 
as  based  on  a  false  theory, — and  there  are  others  who  regard  the 
reference  to  a  Creator  as  based  upon  a  false  theory.  But  there 
can  be  no  more  doubt  that  the  United  States  national  govern 
ment,  is  founded  upon  the  theory' of  compact,  than  it  is  upon  the 
theory  of  equality  of  rights  of  Individuals,  as  given  by  their 
Creator.  Indeed,  the  two  theories  amount  to  one,  in  the  highest 
generalization.  How  indeed,  would  it  have  been  possible,  for  a 
Nation,  growing  up,  as  ours  from  its  beginning  has  done,  from 
many  Nations, — to  be  resolvable  into  any  other  theory  than  that 
of  compact?  Whatever,  therefore,  may  be  the  case  with  other 
Nations,  ours  is  based  upon  the  theory  of  compact,  in  which 


SURVEY.     CORPORATIONS   NOT   LOCALITIES.  353 

certain  rights  are  made  by  the  Creator,  utterly  inalienable ;  and 
which,  no  degree  of  force,  and  no  length  of  time,  and  no  past 
consent  by  the  governed,  can  ever  destroy. 

CHAP.  V.    DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN  CORPORATIONS  AND  LOCAL 
ITIES. 

§  1.  In  their  Nature. 

Remembering  we  frequently  say,  that  all  kinds  of  govern 
ment,  are  a  sort  of  Corporations  for  their  respective  Localities, — 
the  question  may  now  be  asked,  and  answered :  What  are  the 
differences  between  the  Corporations  strictly  so  called,  and  Pre 
cinct,  or  Nation,  which  are  as  if  sorts  or  kinds  of  Corporations 
IMPLIED  in  the  fundamental  constitution  of  society  ? 

The  historical  difference  is  this,  namely;  The  Precinct  is 
merely  a  transformation  of  the  neighborhood-element  of  the 
tribe.  This  element  of  neighborhood,  in  the  first  or  migratory 
condition  of  tribes,  was  merely  a  moving  organized  Social  Circle ; 
but  subsequently  became  localized,  by  the  enlargement  of  the 
tribe,  and  by  the  change  from  the  migratory  to  the  settled  and 
agricultural  condition.  But  social  inequalities  arise,  even  in  the 
migratory  condition,  hence,  even  then  arise  the  Social  Circles. 
All  governments  of  Localities  como  chiefly  from  the  feelings,  or 
the  emotive  part  of  our  nature.  But  the  Corporations  arise 
from  the  reasoning  faculties,  from  the  suggestions  of  special 
works,  not  undertaken  by  the  tribe  as  a  whole,  nor  by  its  rulers ; 
and  either  the  works,  or  the  methods,  not  agreed  upon  by  all 
the  reasoners  and  thinkers.  Those  who  agree  upon  any  work 
and  method,  unite  together  for  that  purpose  only,  and  organize 
for  that  end. 

The  essence  of  the  great  difference,  between  Corporation  and 
the  other  Elements,  consists  chiefly  in  this ;  that  the  strictly 
called  Corporations  derive  their  power  from  the  Instinctive  and 
Fundamental  Elements  of  society;  or  at  least  act  under  their 
control,  and  are  therefore  of  a  derivative  or  subordinate  kind ; 
but  the  other  Elements  of  the  Analytics  are  instinctive  ones, 
and  may  be  called  primitive ;  and  can  never  be  entirely  dis 
placed.  In  other  words,  and  socially  speaking,  Social  Circle, 
Precinct  or  Nation,  can  no  more  be  entirely  eliminated,  than 
Family  or  Individual  can  be. 


364  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      II.  I.  IV. 

Therefore,  the  relation  of  Corporations  to  their  organic  supe 
riors,  differs  from  the  relation  of  Precincts  to  their  superiors, 
in  this ;  that  the  Precincts  own  by  nature  their  privileges,  as 
Precincts ;  but  the  Corporations  derive  them  from  the  rights  of 
other  Units,  namely,  from  the  Individual,  the  Family,  or  the 
Social  Circle  ;  as  admitted  or  recognized  by  the  superior.  And 
thus,  in  a  certain  sense,  Corporation-rights  may  be  said  to  de 
pend  upon  the  superior  powers ;  but  Precinct-rights  do  not  so 
depend ;  although  their  actual  powers  of  course  do  so.  In  other 
words,  the  case  is  one  of  Individuals  &c.,  asking  for  their  lib 
erties  and  rights  in  one  particular  method.  And  there  arises, 
therefore,  a  much  greater  right  of  the  superior  to  exercise  judg 
ments,  especially  as  to  the  methods.  But  this  difference  need 
not  necessarily  be  felt  very  deeply  in  practice ;  because  a  govern 
ment,  or  society  at  large,  may  spontaneously  give  to  Corpora 
tions,  many  or  even  nearly  all  the  powers  of  either  or  of  both. 

There  is,  however,  another  essential  difference  between  Cor 
porations  and  local  organizations,  namely;  The  Precinct  itself 
may  often  be  the  superior  to  a  Corporation,  although,  of  course, 
it  could  not  be  superior  to  itself.  Corporations,  therefore,  al 
though  intellectually  so  great,  yet  need  to  be  humble  before  the 
local  governments,  the  essential  and  instinctive  natural  units  of 
society.  Morally,  they  have  rights,  but  not  perhaps  to  be  as 
serted  by  force,  against  truly  organized  systems  of  local  govern 
ments,  with  Precinct-rights  duly  preserved. 
§  2.  In  their  Operation. 

The  consideration  of  the  Precinct,  established  rights  and  prin 
ciples,  which  are,  in  general,  equally  as  demandable  and  obtain 
able  by  Corporation ;  and  sometimes,  but  only  in  less  degrees, 
by  some  of  the  other  Elements.  Nevertheless,  the  Corporation- 
principle  possesses  some  ;d  vantages  over  the  Precinct  and  Na 
tion  ;  and  over  their  principles  and  methods  of  obtaining  human 
rights,  and  securing  human  happiness.  This  Corporation-prin 
ciple  or  method,  is  much  more  economical,  and  much  less  dis 
ruptive  of  the  ties  of  kindred  and  acquaintance.  It  allows  the 
parties  to  continue  to  reside  and  intermingle  among  each  other, 
a  policy  which  in  the  past  has  been  useful  in  allaying  animosi 
ties,  and  promoting  progress. 

Being  next  in  naturalness  to  Precincts,  and  needing  to  precede 


SURVEY.     CORPORATIONS   NOT   LOCALITIES. 

them  in  the  reformation,  Corporations,  in  the  mean  while,  are 
the  substitutes.  They  are  also  the  procurers  of.  many  particular 
rights  of  the  Precinct :  Because,  they  are  the  NEXT  most  natural 
and  most  spontaneous  Element  of  human  society,  in  which  it  is 
possible  for  small  bodies  of  men  to  organize  themselves  politic 
ally  ;  the  Element  "  Nation"  being  entirely  too  extensive,  and 
also  too  radically  different,  to  be  thought  of  as  a  recourse  in 
this  connection,  or  in  this  era  of  the  world. 

In  their  primary  operations, — while  the  Precinct-theory  pro 
vides  government  for  persons  who  are  near  to  each  other, 
physically  or  geographically;  the  Corporation-theory  provides 
government  for  those  who  are  near  to  each  other  metaphysically 
or  morally.  And  in  their  fullest  development,  the  Precinct 
provides  companies  for  Localities ;  the  Corporation  provides  as 
sociations  both  for  metaphysical  and  moral  bases.  Thus  it  is, 
that  the  highest  and  best  obtained  uses  of  Precinct,  are  involved 
fundamentally  in  the  very  idea  of  the  Corporation,  and  are 
directly  sought  for  by  it. 

Thus  it  is,  that,  although  the  physical  condition,  Locality, — 
which  constitutes  the  distinction  between  the  former  two, 
namely,  Precinct  and  Nation,  and  the  latter  one, — is  a  condi 
tion,  the  retention  of  which,  facilitates  the  calculation  of  the 
physical  and  lower  phenomena  of  society,  and  the  attainment  of 
their  corresponding  objects : — yet  its  complete  elimination  fur 
nishes  a  calculus  which  facilitates  the  investigation  of  the  meta 
physical  and  transcendental  phenomena  of  society,  and  the 
attainment  of  their  corresponding  objects, — or,  which  will  do  so, 
whenever  our  lower  geometry  and  algebra,  have  been  sufficiently 
perfected  for  such  a  transcendental  elimination. 

The  great  points  of  difference  between  the  two  systems,  in 
practice,  would  be  as  follows, — the  Corporation-system  would  be 
easiest  and  pleasantest  for  private  citizens  as  Individuals,  but 
the  Precinct-system  would  be  easiest  for  faithful  government 
officials  :  the  Corporation-method  would  be  easiest  taken  ad 
vantage  of,  by  dishonest  persons,  (whether  in  or  out  of  office)  in 
its  actual  administration,  after  being  fully  inaugurated ;  but  the 
Precinct-system  would  be  most  likely  to  be  taken  dishonest 
advantage  of,  in  its  inauguration. 


366  BK-  IY-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  I. 


SUB-DIVISION    II. 

MISCELLANEOUS    CORPORATIONS. 
CHAP.  I.     CLASSIFICATIONS. 

&  1.  Blackstone' s  Classification. 

A  Corporation,  according  to  Blackstone,  is  defined  to  be  "  an 
artificial  person  constituted  to  maintain  perpetual  succession, 
and  enjoy  legal  immortality,  in  order  to  preserve  PERSONAL, 
rights."  But  in  our  Social  Science,  Corporation  sometimes 
means  the  principle  whereby  citizens  of  different  Localities  asso 
ciate  together  for  special  purposes,  abstract  from  locality ;  at 
other  times  it  means  a  particular  association,  constituted  for  such 
a  purpose,  and  consisting  of  special  Individuals  of  various  Lo 
calities,  and  selecting  themselves  for  the  purpose,  without  neces 
sitating  change  of  domicile.  The  latter  part  of  Blackstone's 
definition  should  be  kept  distinctly  in  mind — as  to  the  object — 
namely,  "  in  order  to  preserve  PERSONAL  rights"  ;  and  he  means 
the  rights  of  the  INDIVIDUAL. 

Blackstone  says,  "  Corporations  may  be  erected  by  Custom, 
by  Prescription,  or  by  act  of  Parliament."  When  Prescription 
means  the  long  usage  of  Corporation-rights  by  a  particular  Cor 
poration,  its  condition  before  legal  recognition  constitutes  what 
we  call  a  virtual  Corporation.  When  custom  means  common 
custom,  such  as  constitutes  the  common  law,  it  contains  an  intel 
ligible  meaning;  but  there  is  no  such  custom  in  the  United 
States,  ^except  as  to  virtual  Corporations,  in  whose  case  there 
exists  enough  of  the  law  to  prevent  the  persons  engaged  from 
being  considered  partners.  But  only  legislative  enactments,  or 
special  proceedings  according  to  such  enactments,  constitute  Cor 
porations  in  the  United  States. 

Blackstone  says  Corporations  may  be  divided  thus : 
Either  Aggregate  and  Sole, 
Or  Ecclesiastical  and  Lay, 
Or  Civil  and  Eleemosynary. 

But  this  classification  is  not  sufficient  for  social  science ;  nor 


SURVEY.     ACCORDING   TO   TEN   CHARACTERISTICS.          367 

indeed  do  we  recognize  any  such  thing  as  a  Corporation  sole. 
The  nearest  approach  to  it,  in  our  classification,  is  partnership. 
THAT  is  the  smallest  Corporation  we  can  admit  of,  even  in  the 
definition. 

§  2.   Our  Preliminaries. 

In  order  to  consider  this  subject  fairly,  it  is  necessary  for  us 
to  make  some  classifications  very  different  from  the  old  ones. 
Furthermore,  inasmuch  as  the  term  "  Corporation"  is  not  com 
monly  understood  in  that  wide  extent,  or  with  that  wide  signifi 
cance,  that  we  are  about  to  give  it; — or  perhaps  it  would  be 
more  proper  to  say,  that  the  classes  of  Corporations  of  which 
we  are  about  to  treat  principally,  are  scarcely  ever  found,  even 
in  theories  or  in  books ;  and  as  the  kinds  of  uses  also  are  not 
common ;  we  will  have  to  introduce  several  further  classifications. 

Referring  then,  to  our  classification  of  the  fundamental  per 
sonal  Elements  of  the  Analytics,  we  remember,  that  whilst  we 
had  six  Instinctive,  we  had  only  one  Deliberative,  Element. 
There  is  therefore  nothing  in  the  classification  of  the  Analytics, 
so  unique,  and  without  sub-divisions,  as  Corporation ;  unless  in^- 
deed  it  be  the  Summary  Introduction,  on  Social  Science  in  gen 
eral.  Corporations  have  to  be  classified  somewhat  like, — GENUS 
HOMO, — species  man.  This  singularity  however,  refers  only  to 
their  location  as  a  whole,  or  as  an  Element.  But  when  we 
come  to  their  sub-divisions,  the  exactly  opposite  characteristic  be 
comes  apparent ;  and  Corporations  open  up  more  diversified  and 
complicated  sets  of  classifications,  than  either  of  the  other  di 
visions.  And  although  they  have  their  historical  origin  in  the 
tribe  and  its  principles,  yet  their  susceptibilities  of  almost  indefi 
nite  development  and  application,  entitle  them,  in  the  classifica 
tion,  to  a  position  of  almost  unparalleled  importance.  Hence 
we  now  propose  to  give  a  classification  of  the  classifications,  em 
bracing  Ten  different  mentionable  characteristics ;  the  last  one  of 
which  will  be  the  basis  in  our  Third  Main  Division ;  and  sev 
eral  of  the  other  nine,  will  aid  in  understanding  that  Division. 

CHAP.   II.    CORPORATIONS   CLASSIFIABLE   ACCORDING  TO   TEN 
MENTIONABLE   CHARACTERISTICS. 

§  (A)         Classification  of  the  Characteristics. 
Corporations  need  to  be  looked  at  in  many  different  views ; 
and  in  each  view,  it  would  be  possible  to  make  a  separate  classi- 


368  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

fication  of  them  all  according  to  their  different  Characteristics. 
We  will  present  Ten  such  different  views  or  Characteristics  of 
possible  classifications,  with  a  few  remarks  upon  each,  before 
proceeding  to  the  consideration  of  those  Corporations  which  are 
expressly  governmental.  First:  Classifiable  as  to  their  relations 
to  "the  Law";  namely,  Legal  or  Virtual.  Second:  Classifiable 
as  to  secrecy;  namely  secret  or  not  secret.  Third:  Classifiable 
as  to  monopolization ;  namely,  whether  monopoly  or  not  mo 
nopoly.  Fourth:  Classifiable  as  to  their  relations  to  personal 
intercourse ;  namely,  whether  associations  involving  sociable 
intercourse;  or  companies  not  involving  sociable  intercourse. 
Fifth:  Classifiable  as  to  the  official  nature  of  Individuals; 
whether  membership  constitutes  office,  or  whether  it  does  not. 
Those  in  which  membership  itself  does  constitute  office,  are  only 
$erai-Corporations ;  as  for  instance,  Partnerships  and  possibly 
Families.  Sixth :  Classifiable  as  to  their  objects  in  view : — These 
objects  may  be  divided  into  Physical  or  Metaphysical ;  The 
Physical  may  be  for  Pleasure,  or  Trade,  or  Transportation,  or 
Currency.  The  Metaphysical,  might  also  be  called  Transcen 
dental,  and  may  be  for  Morality,  or  Religion,  or  Charity,  or 
Education.  Seventh:  Classifiable  according  to  their  nature, 
whether  simple  or  compound.  Eighth:  Classifiable  as  to  the 
means  they  may- use,  whether  Governmental,  or  Voluntary,  or 
Mixed.  The  Governmental,  may  be  either  for  Civil,  or  for  Polit 
ical  objects.  The  Voluntary  may  be  either  for  Morals,  for  Prop 
erty,  or  for  Person.  The  Mixed  may  be  either  for  Uniformity, 
for  Obedience,  or  for  Separation.  The  Mixed  mean  those  which 
are* of  a  Semi- Family  nature.  Ninth:  Classifiable  as  to  their 
relations  to,  or  control  over,  Localities, — whether  embracing  or 
governing  their  localities,  or  whether  NOT  embracing  or  gov 
erning  them.  This  classification  is  general  enough,  to  embrace 
the  Governmental  Corporations,  which  we  treat  at  length  in 
the  Third  Main  Division;  and  was  the  classification  formerly 
adopted  by  us  for  them.  Tenth :  Classifiable  as  to  their  Gov 
ernmental  and  Political  nature,  namely,  whether  Governmental, 
or  not. 

The  Governmental  ones  constitute,  as  just  said,  the  Third 
Main  Division.  We,  therefore,  only  need  say  here,  that  they 
are  classified  into  two  Sub-Divisions,  namely,  First,  a  Lower 


SURVEY.     ACCORDING   TO   TEN   CHARACTERISTICS. 

or  Derivative  order,  exercising  special  functions  under  present 
governments.  And  second,  a  higher  order,  exercising  inherent 
political  functions;  and  based  upon  ideas.  This  higher  order 
would  require,  and  involve,  a  very  considerable  reorganization 
of  society. 

Now  let  us  make  a  few  general  remarks  on  each  of  the  before- 
mentioned  Ten  Characteristics  of  Corporations. 
§  I.  As  Related  to  "The  Law." 

The  first  and  simplest  basis  of  classification  of  Corporations 
(for  the  present  purpose),  is,  that  which  rests  upon  their  relation 
to  "  The  Law," — their  authority  in  the  law,  to  exist.  Because, 
whilst  one  kind  is  legal,  duly  authorized  by  statute ;  the  other 
kind  is  only  virtual.  A  Corporation  of  the  latter  kind,  is  real 
and  efficient  to  its  own  members,  within  certain  limits ;  but  is  not 
so  to  the  outside  world ;  and  is  always  liable  to  disorders,  from 
ils  abnormal  relation  to  the  law.  Such  a  Corporation  is  in  the 
same  relation  to  law,  that  ancient  Corporations  were,  whilst 
in  the  incompleted  process  of  establishment  by  "prescription." 
"AND  NOW,"  in  the  United  States,  several  of  the  communes, 
although  operating  without  charters,  and  without  even  that  legal 
sacrament,  "  a  common  seal," — have  undergone  suits,  and  come 
out  victorious,  upon  the  very  ground  affirmed  by  the  civil  courts, 
that  they  are  not  partnerships,  but,  virtual  corporations. 

Our  theory,  in  regarding  partnerships  as  a  sort  of  Corpora 
tions,  is  confirmed  by  the  fact,  that  the  chief  or  only  diiference 
which  "  the  law"  makes,  between  Corporations,  is  the  same  that 
it  makes  between  partnerships ;  namely,  the  differences  based 
on  the  degree  of  liability  of  the  Individual  members ;  namely, 
Limited, "or  Unlimited. 

The  old  English  law,  until  very  lately,  was  as  arbitrary  and 
absurd,  about  Corporations,  as  it  was,  and  as  ours  still  is,  about 
partnerships ;  namely,  refusing  to  allow  the  limited  responsibility 
of  the  Individual  members,  according  to  their  own  free  choice 
and  judgment ;  as  arranged  between  them  and  their  creditors, 
spontaneously  and  voluntarily.  J.  S.  Mill  has  shown  the  com 
plete  justice,  and  expediency  of  such  a  freedom  for  partnership. 
And  it  is  equally  as  demonstrable  for  Corporation  :  and  will  be 
seen  to  be  so,  when  the  old  despotic  policy  of  tyrannical  or  ava 
ricious  law-makers,  shall  cease  its  wretched  course,  of  doling  out 

24 


370  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

human  rights  drop  by  drop ;,  and  only  at  all,  lest  blood  should 
flow,  or  lest  they  should  lose  their  offices. 

The  difference  between  Limited  and  Unlimited  Corporations 
is  so  great,  that  probably  it  ought  to  have  been  made  by  us,  into 
a  separate  classification,  additional  to  the  Ten.  But  that  per 
haps  it  is  virtually  included  in  our  Fifth  class, — namely,  as  to 
whether  membership  therein,  of  itself  constitutes  office,  or  not, 
(See  §  o  below.)  Because,  no  partnership  nor  Corporation  ought 
to  involve  unlimited  liability,  without  also,  and  at  least,  consti 
tuting  each  such  accountable  member,  an  officer  and  ruler  of  it, 
per  se;  and  not  merely  a  stock  voter.  Society  and  law  should 
always  extend  their  saving  power  and  wisdom,  to  counteract 
the  evils  of  their  own  producing. 

§  2.  As  to  Secrecy. 

The  question  of  secrecy  is  always  one  of  degree.  Secrecy  is 
justifiable  or  otherwise ;  according  to  its  object,  and  according 
to  the  right  of  other  people,  to  know.  There  is  an  imperfec 
tion  in  all  human  character,  that  will  not  justify  an  uncovering 
of  our  hearts  to  other  persons,  only  in  proportion  as  they  are  in, 
not  only  corresponding,  but  also  suitably  perfect  degrees,  botlf 
of  affection  and  intelligence.  For,  without  affection,  men  de 
spise  the  faults  in  others,  which  they  themselves  possess ;  and 
without  intelligence,  they  would  despise  the  confidences  of  in 
tellect.  This  principle,  in  its  utmost  activity,  is  one  of  the  prin 
ciples  that  require  simple  marriage  and  personal  privacy.  In 
all  governments,  whether  Families,  societies,  cliques,  parties,  or 
even  Xation  itself,  the  innermost  c'  wheel  within  wheel,"  is  a 
silent,  a  secret,  an  "Unknown  power/'  On  the  other  hand, 
secrecy  may  be  based  upon  a  design  to-do  wrong  things,  and, 
which  we  are  really  ashamed  or  afraid  should  become  known. 
Or  it  may  be  based  on  a  design  to  do  mutually  selfish  things, 
namely,  for  the  members  to  help  each  other  especially,  whilst  at 
the  same  time  receiving  help  from  non-members,  the  same  as  if 
non-members  themselves.  And,  thirdly,  secrecy  may  be  merely 
the  provision  of  means  of  recognition,  whereby  persons  mutu 
ally  acting  together  in  purposes,  but  separated  in  localities,  may 
become  known  to  each  other,  on  occasion.  In  this  case,  the 
ultimate  object  of  the  association,  and  also  its  surrounding  cir 
cumstances,  are  to  be  considered. 


SURVEY.     ACCORDING   TO    TEN   CHARACTERISTICS.  371 

But  when  we  would  apply  the  thought  to  Politics,  there  is  a 
difficulty  to  reconcile  the  universal  approval  of  secret  ballot, 
with  the  general  opposition  to  secret  societies.  This  much,  how 
ever,  can  safely  be  said,  that  in  proportion  as  the  rights  of  all 
the  Fundamental  Elements  of  society  are  practically  acknowl 
edged  ;  and  especially  the  rights  of  Individuals,  Precincts,  and 
Corporations ;  and  so  far  as  the  forms  of  legal  and  social  pro 
ceedings,  are  improved  generally ;  just  so  far,  all  good  reasons 
or  excuses  for  the  secrecy  of  political  associations  will  be  re 
moved.  And  finally,  a  completely  prevalent  communism,  would 
remove  the  uses  of  secret  recognition  in  the  good  and  moral 
secret  societies ;  and  there  would  then  remain  as  justifiable  se 
crecies,  only  those  between  marital  partners,  or  those  between 
choicest  friends. 

§3.  As  to  Monopolization. 

All  that  occurs  to  say  of  this,  is,  that  the  monopolization,  if 
any,  should  always  be  of  limited  duration ;  and  in  proportion  to 
population;  and  if  of  an  internal  Corporation,  its  charter  or 
rights  should  NOT  be  more  difficult  to  alter  by  the  authority  of 
the  Government,  than  the  Constitution  of  the  Government  itself: 
nevertheless,  in  all  forced  alterations,  compensation  for  financial 
injuries  should  be  made,  as  truly  as  to  Individuals.  These  prin 
ciples  apply  to  the  monopolization  of  governmental  and  political 
power,  by  Precincts  and  Nations,  in  the  displacement  of  tribes 
and  governmental  Corporations ;  as  well  as  to  common  organ 
izations.  Corporations  for  building  roads,  need  a  limited  mo 
nopoly  ;  but  Banks  on  a  proper  commodity  basis,  would  not 
need  any  ;  but  only,  evidence  of  the  possession  of  a  sufficiency 
of  the  BASIS,  and  of  morality. 

§  4.  As  to  Relations  to  Personal  Intercourse. 

One  of  the  most  evident  differences  between  Corporations,  is 
made  upon  the  principle,  whether  they  involve  personal  social 
intercourse,  or  not.  Those  which  do  involve  social  and  sociable 
intercourse,  we  may  call  associations,  because  the  members  are 
associates.  We  might  include,  under  this  head,  such  of  the 
functions  of  the  Family  as  belong  under  the  head  of  Corpora 
tion,  inasmuch  as  their  members  associate  together.  But  we 
postpone  them  to  another  head,  which  seems  to  us  more  appro 
priate. 


372  BK.  IV.      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

Those  Corporations  which  do  not  involve  personal  social  in 
tercourse,  are  called  companies;  the  members  accompanying  each 
other  in  the  special  occupation  for  which  they  are  incorporated, 
but  not  associating  together;  at  least,  not  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Partnerships,  if  they  come  under  the  head  of  Corporations  at 
all,  as  we  endeavor  to  show  that  they  do,  might  be  placed  here; 
inasmuch  as  the  members  are  not  necessarily  associates  in  the 
relations  of  private  life.  But  we  reserve  them  also  to  a  place 
further  on,  which  seems  more  appropriate. 

Associations  are  much  more  complex  and  special,  than  com 
panies.  They  involve  that  difficult  subject,  the  Social  Circle ; 
and  many  societies  therefore  fail,  because  they  attempt  to  be  as 
sociations,  when  they  might  succeed,  if  they  only  attempted  to 
be  companies.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  a  company  might 
exist,  which  would  accomplish  the  more  complex  and  especial 
functions  of  an  association,  by  sub-dividing  itself  into  two  or 
more  associations,  according  to  the  different  Social  Circles  of 
which  it  consisted. 

»  §  5.  As  to  the  Relation  of  Membership,  to  Office  in  them. 

(a)  In  General.  In  classifying  Corporations,  according  to 
specialty  of  organ  for  function,  and  according  to  objects  in 
view ;  one  principle  of  the  division  might  be,  whether  member 
ship  in  itself  constitutes  office,  or  not.  Those  in  which  mem 
bership  does  constitute  office,  consist  of  partnerships  on  the  one 
hand,  and  Families  on  the  other.  These  might  be  called  Semi- 
Corporations,  inasmuch  as  only  a  part  of  their  nature  can  be 
investigated  under  this  head. 

Most  societies,  as  they  allow  all  the  members  an  equal  right 
to  speak,  are  partly  of  the  nature  here  expressed ;  especially  was 
this  the  case  originally  in  the  society  of  "  Friends"  or  Quakers, 
in  which,  membership  carried  with  it  the  right  of  being  a  "min 
ister,"  a  speaking-officer;  although  subsequently  the  right  re 
quired  confirmation  by  other  officers.  But  it  wras  only  the 
right  of  a  speaking-officer  (an  officer  peculiar  to  the  Christian 
churches,  and  existing  in  most  of  them)-,  it  was  not  the  right  of 
a  ruling-officer,  which  is  the  only  thing  of  much  account  in 
direct  politics. 

Whenever  membership  in  a  Corporation  involves  unlimited 
liability  of  the  Individual,  the  law  ought  to  empower  him  to  be, 


SURVEY.     ACCORDING   TO   TEN   CHARACTERISTICS.          373 

per  se,  a  ruling  officer  in  the  concern  ;  and  that  too,  even  if  he 
was  willing  and  should  agree  to  forego  his  claim  thereunto.  See 
above  under  §  5. 

(b)  Partnership.  Here  we  might  say  a  few  words  to  the 
legists,  who  of  course  will  dispute  our  theory  of  Corporations 
"  in  toto"  ;  and  in  particular,  will  probably  ridicule  the  very  idea 
of  including  partnerships  under  the  head  of  Corporations.  And 
now,  gentlemen,  pray  tell  us,  what  is  a  limited  or  special  part 
nership  ?  and  what  is  the  difference  between  it  and  a  Corpora 
tion  ?  Ah  !  It  has  no  corporate  seal.  Alas,  indeed  !  But  we 
answer :  regarding  the  active  members  of  a  partnership  as  the 
officers  of  the  concern,  then  the  limited  partners  are  merely 
stockholders,  without  having  the  amount  of  their  investments 
divided  up  into  a  formal  and  arbitrary  number  of  shares ;  ex 
cept  under  the  general  name -of  so  many  dollars,  or  so  many 
pounds ;  so  that  the  difference  is  not  in  essence,  but  only  in  form ; 
yea,  and  only  in  the  form  of  the  name.  But  what  the  partner 
ship  lacks  in  form,  it  more  than  makes  up  in  spirit ;  because  the 
officers,  in  this  case,  seldom  find  themselves  able  to  cheat  the 
stockholders  with  trickery,  book-keeping,  and  "  long-winded" 
reports. 

The  folly  of  the  present  law  of  partnership,  in  not  recognizing 
it  as  a  Corporation,  is,  that  ordinarily  it  makes  all  the  partners 
responsible  without  limit,  for  the  acts  of  either  one  of  them. 

The  principal  thing  which  Social  Science  has  to  investigate,  in 
regard  to  partnerships,  is,  their  further  and  enlarged  capacity  to 
fulfill  functions  that  Corporations  now  have,  or  might  have,  en 
trusted  to  them.  The  head  of  the  government  of  Rome  once 
consisted  of  a  triumvirate  of  three  partners,  and  of  late  years  the 
government  of  France  was  a  consulate  of  two  parties,  so  that 
history  does  not  entirely  desert  us  in  this  theory.  But  still,  these 
were  not  permanent  Corporations,  nor  was  the  concurrence  the 
result  of  free  selection  by  the  Individuals.  The  problem  for 
Social  Science  here  is,  to  fit  free,  voluntary  partnerships,  for  all 
the  various  functions  of  Corporations ;  including  also  governing 
and  political  functions. 

(e)  The  Family.  By  including  the  Family  under  the  head 
of  Corporation,  all  that  is  meant,  is  to  recall  the  fact,  that  some 
of  the  functions  of  the  Family  are  of  a  corporate  r.ature,  and 


374  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  IT. 

belong  to  Corporation  ;  because  it  is  an  institution  organized  for 
special  purposes,  by  the  voluntary  agreement  of  the  parties.  And 
as  we  intimated  in  the  Summary  Introduction,  Part  I.  Chap. 
IX.,  §  1,  in  reference  to  classifications,  that  a  truly  scientific  one, 
ought  to  be  general  enough  to  allow  all  parties  to  arrange  their 
ideas  under  its  order :  and  not  seek  to  forestall  freedom,  or  to 
establish  doctrines,  by  cunning  contrivances.  It  is  better  to  meet 
the  question  purely  on  its  own  merits,  when  it  comes  up  under 
its  proper  "  book," — The  FAMILY,  in  another  volume. 

Another  thought  however,  belongs  here  under  this  head, 
namely,  that  the  more,  marriage  and  the  Family-organization 
are  entered  upon  voluntarily  and  deliberately,  as  in  Modern 
Society;  and  consequently  the  less  they  are  entered  upon  by 
mere  animal  propensity, — the  less  the  principles  and  rights  and 
duties  of  mere  instinct  or  feeling,  apply  to  them ;  and  the  more 
like  voluntary  CORPORATIONS  they  may  become,  without  vio 
lence  either  to  expediency,  morality,  or  the  will  of  God.  This 
idea  sheds  more  light  on  the  evidently  changing  views  of  the 
most  civilized  peoples,  relative  to  divorce,  than  anything  we 
have  yet  thought  of. 

We  have  seen  in  the  Introduction,  that  the  deliberative  and 
ratiocinative  grounds  of  the  Family,  created  a  difficulty  in  the 
Highest  Main  Division  ; — rthat  between  the  instinctive  and  the 
deliberative  Elements  of  society.  We  there  unhesitatingly 
adopted  the  term  instinctive,  for  the  first  division,  and  in 
cluded  the  Family  in  it.  But  still,  it  would  not  be  justice  to 
the  whole  truth  ;  nor  to  the  views  of  a  large  class  of  social  sci 
entists,  nor  to  the  generalness  of  a  strictly  scientific  classifica 
tion,  to  omit  the  Family  entirely  from  the  deliberative  Elements. 

We  must  also  bear  in  mind  here,  according  to  our  type-theory, 
that  Family  is  type  of  Corporation ;  and  Corporation,  in  turn, 
is  type  of  Family :  and  that  therefore  both  throw  light  upon 
each  other  reciprocally. 

We  find  everywhere  in  history,  Families,  which  do,  in  fact, 
conduct  certain  mercantile,  banking,  insurance,  and  other  busi 
nesses.  And  we  also  find  many  instances  of  Families  whose 
members  do,  in  fact,  exert  a  controlling  influence  in  politics,  for 
generations,  even  in  the  United  States.  But  this  principle  has 
not  as  yet  found  any  method  of  expressing  itself  by  corporate 


SURVEY.     ACCORDING    TO    TEN    CHARACTERISTICS.  375 

organization,  according  to  Republican  principles,  except  in  one 
or  two  instances  of  communism. 

Here  the  question  arises,  whether  it  is  possible  to  entrust  to 
Families,  AS  SUCH,  any  of  the  functions  of  Corporations.  The 
political  and  civil  functions  seem  to  have  been  entrusted  to 
Families,  in  a  certain  limited  way,  in  hereditary  governments; 
but  that  is  not  at  all  what  we  mean.  We  mean  no  further  hered 
itary  principle,  than  in  the  limited  degree,  which  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  now  allow  to  property.  The  question  is,  in 
regard  to  parents  and  their  immediate  children  or  issue.  But, 
after  Social  Science  shall  have  given  to  partnerships,  all  their 
rights,  and  worked  out  their  problem ;  then  the  problem  of  the 
corporate  uses  of  Families,  may  perhaps  become  plainer.  We 
are  not  able,  as  yet,  to  do  anything  with  it. 

§  6.  As  to  Objects  in  view. 

These  would  be  almost  endless,  unless  we  take  a  few  COMBI 
NATIONS  of  chief  objects,  as  portrayed  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
Third  Main  Division  of  this  "  book."  But  they  may  here  be 
classified  into  Physical  and  Metaphysical,  and  then  their  re 
spective  Sub-Divisions  might  be  as  follows : — 

(a)  The  Physical.  The  physical  Corporations  and  objects, 
may  be  divided  into  Trade,  Transportation,  and  Currency. 

As  to  Trade  or  Business  matters,  our  modern  world  is  so 
full  of  them,  that  we  need  only  say  a  little.  One  thing  is,  that 
as  governments  have  proved  so  inefficient  to  attend  to  their  own 
business-matters,  or  to  obtain  Individuals  to  attend  hereunto 
for  them, — it  would  be  well  for  them  to  authorize  large  Corpo 
rations  for  all  such  purposes,  as  fast  as  the  governments  can  be 
made  honest  enough  to  resist  the  large  bribes  of  such  Corpora 
tions.  Another  thing  to  be  suggested  here,  is, -that  there  is  some 
radical  defect  in  some  of  the  American  social  laws,  which  tend 
io  hinder,  rather  than  promote,  the  keeping  of  all  the  members 
of  a  Family  usually  in  the  same  business,  as  is  common  in 
Europe.  The  Family  is  a  Corporation  made  by  nature,  able  to 
conduct  a  business  economically  and  happily,  in  mutual  love 
and  confidence. 

As  to  Transportation  and  Roads,  the  first  error  seems  to  be, 
the  ignoring  entirety,  the  peculiar  rights  of  the  adjacent  land 
owners.  Because  those  owners  virtually  and  locally  are  a  part 


376  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

of  the  Corporation  of  the  road.  If,  after  a  street  or  common 
road  was  graded,  and  ordered  by  law  to  be  opened, — if  the  final 
legal  process  to  open,  involved  under  general  law,  the  incorpo 
ration  of  the  land-holders  along  the  street  or  road, — then  the 
work  over  the  road  would  be  accomplished  at  vastly  less  ex 
pense,  either  in  money  or  in  morals,  and  would  be  much  better 
done.  Moreover,  even  in  the  case  of  turnpikes  and  Railroads, 
it  would  be  better  if  the  land-owners,  as  such,  along  the  line, 
were  invested  with  some  small  proportion  of  the  stock,  even  if 
the  public  paid  for  their  proportions  thereof.  Because,  all  lands 
ought  to  carry  with  them  some  share  of  control  over  the  roads 
adjacent  to  them, — independent  of  the  interest  in  their  original 
construction,  which  sometimes  is,  but  sometimes  is  not,  worth 
considering. 

The  Precincts  in  which  roads  lie,  should  also  have  a  small 
right  of  ownership  in  the  Road-Corporations,  and  for  the  same 
reasons  as  the  adjacent  land-owners  should  have. 

We  must  admit  that  the  Railway  companies  are  terribly  cor 
rupting  powers  over  governments  ;  but  it  is  equally  as  clear, 
that  they  can  do  their  work  far  better  and  far  cheaper,  than 
governments  do.  But  a  question  arises  here,  and  is  left  for 
subsequent  thinkers ;  can  Corporations  for  transportation  be  ob 
tained,  without  chartering  especially  for  the  purpose,  and  merely 
by  employing  organs  already  in  existence  ? 

If  every  Railroad-ownership  'consisted  of  two  separate  com 
panies, — one  of  the  Road-way,  and  the  other  of  Transportation, 
and  under  due  legal  regulations,  by  principles,  not  by  details  ; 
perhaps  things  would  be  better,  as  each  such  Corporation  would 
serve  as  a  check  to  the  other.  But  the  main  source  of  improve 
ment  would  be,  for  both  law  and  public  opinion,  to  prevent  any 
Railroad-officer  from  reaping  indirect  profits  for  himself  at  the 
expense  of  the  company,  no  matter  what  were  the  methods  or 
the  circumlocutions  thereof.  The  Express  Companies  that  avail 
themselves  of  the  Road-Companies,  are  generally  found  more  re 
liable,  and  less  risky,  as  transporters,  than  the  Road-Companies 
themselves.  Hence  the  conclusion,  that  the  mails  could  be  thus 
carried,  better,  safer  and  more  economically,  than  by  the  govern 
ment,  and  with  less  corruption  of  the  government.  Besides, 
they  would  conveniently  be  responsible  for  losses  as  common 


SURVEY.     ACCORDING   TO    TEN   CHARACTERISTICS.          377 

carriers,  or  otherwise,  which  the  United  States  government  refuses 
to  be.  The  Road-Companies  themselves  are  also  accountable  in 
this  sense;  and  some  of  the  best  of  them  are  perfectly  irre 
proachable,  in  doing  their  own  express  business. 

For  the  protection  of  travelers  and  their  property,  a  special 
Corporation  is  formed  in  England,  and  is  evidently  necessary 
elsewhere ;  because  the  great  power  of  the  Road-Companies,  and 
the  smallness  of  most  of  the  particular  losses,  generally  shut 
out  redress  beyond  all  hope,  except  in  the  generosity  of  the 
company's  officers. 

A  general  principle  is  evolved  from  these  cases,  namely,  that 
every  large  Corporation  needs,  that  an  opposing  or  correspond 
ing  Corporation  should  be  formed  or  authorized,  for  every  class 
who  do  business  with  it,  whether,  as  customers  or  as  employes 
or  as  opponents  :  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  every  large  sys 
tem  of  Corporations,  although  each  one  of  them  might  be  of 
small  importance. 

Nothing  but  Corporation  can  resist  Corporation.  Corrupt 
therefore  as  Corporations  sometimes  become,  they  yet  counteract 
each  other's  evils,  and  help  regulate  society;  and  are  all  the 
more  necessary  to  be  legitimized  in  this  country ;  because  the 
disorderly  persons  do  and  will  form  into  virtual,  although  illegal, 
Corporations,  and  into  legal  Corporations  with  secret  ulterior 
objects;  suppressing  personal  liberty,  and  interfering  with  the 
natural  course^  of  commerce  and  manufactures.  Just  as  in  for 
mer  times,  Corporations  were  the  only  powers  that  could  resist 
the  feudal  nobility,  and  the  kings ;  so  in  modern  times,  Corpo 
rations  are  the  only  powers  that  can  resist  the  mobs,  and  the 
demagogues,  in  their  various  clubs  and  associations.  Nor,  are 
the  large  Corporations  any  more  corrupt  than  the  less  and  more 
popular  ones,  or  than  .the  disorderly  mob-ones, — many  of  which 
are  quite  as  much  perverted  by  their  leaders,  from  the  real  or 
avowed  objects  of  their  members,  as  are  the  larger  ones. 

An  important  question  here  is,  what  are  the  real  causes  of  the 
corruption  of  the  large  road  and  transportation  companies? 
One  reason  seems  to  be,  that  their  geographical  nature,  and  com 
mon  use,  make  them  well  known  to  the  public,  £O  that  they 
seem  to  be  old  acquaintances ;  and  therefore  the  public  readily 
LENDS  them  money  in  permanent  loans.  Banks  are  more  secure 


378  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

than  the  transportation  companies.  The  reason  is,  they  have  no 
permanent  loans,  because,  both  as  to  their  discount  and  circula 
tion,  they  may  be  called  upon  for  payment  of  them  at  any  time, 
without  notice.  When  Banks  meant  to  swindle,  they  formerly 
located  in  some  "  wild  cat"  region,  where  they  could  not  easily 
be  called  upon,  for  payment. 

One  method  to  cure  the  evil  in  the  Transportation-Compa 
nies  therefore,  would  be,  to  constitute  all  the  bond-holders  a 
Corporation  separate  from  the  share-holders;  and  with  a  right 
to  be  the  sole  administrative  power,  as  soon  as  a  road  became 
unable  to  pay  its  obligations  promptly. 

But  a  still  better  method  would  be,  to  do  away  entirely  with 
permanent  loans  at  a  fixed  interest,  and  convert  them  into  some 
kind  of  preferred  stock,  with  only  a  limited  dividend  as  a  maxi 
mum.  A  simpler  rule  would  be,  to  have  equal  amounts  of  com 
mon  stock  and  preferred  stock,  issued,  subject  to  equal  power  in 
voting :  but  the  common  stock  never  to  have  dividends  allowed, 
until  a  certain  dividend,  at  a  certain  prescribed  rate,  had  been 
allowed  and  paid  to  the  preferred  stock,  and  all  arrearages, 
if  any,  had  been  made  up  thereunto.  The  rate  for  the  pre 
ferred  stock,  to  be  not  fixed  by  law  in  a  given  figure,  but  to 
be,  say,  the  average,  actual  and  legal  rate,  usual  in  other  safe. 
and  preferred  investments,  as  bonds,  mortgages,  and  municipal 
loans,  &c.  Arrearages  should  also  be  at  compound  interest,  at 
this  rate. 

Or,  if  such  an  arrangement  is  too  far  ahead  of  the  age,  per 
haps  it  would  be  practicable,  to  have  the  rate  of  interest  for 
preferred  stock  fixed  for  a  given  number  of  years,  say  25  or  50 
years.  And  at  every  expiration  of  said  term,  to  have  the  owners 
of  one  kind  of  stock,  appraise  the  total  value  of  the  company, 
arid  the  owners  of  the  other  kind,  to  choose  whether  to  buy  or 
sell  at  that  rate  ; — the  party  buying,  would  of  course  be  the  new 
common  stockholders,  and  would  raise  new  preferred  stock  in 
sufficient  amount  for  the  next  term  of  25  or  50  years,  at  a  rate 
of  interest  then  satisfactory  to  capitalists. 

Another  reason  for  the  corruption  of  these  companies,  is  the 
accomplishment  of  their  elections,  by  general  tickets;  whereby, 
even  at  best,  the  entire  board  is  elected  by  a  mere  majority  of 
all  those  voting  for  boards  of  directors,  instead  of  by  the  prin- 


SURVEY.     ACCORDING   TO   TEN   CHARACTERISTICS.          379 

ciple,  that  each  director  shall  be  elected  by  his  own  fractional 
proportion  of  the  stock. 

To  impute  their  evils  to  the  system  of  voting  by  proxy,  is 
wrong ;  because  the  proxy  is  a  just  principle ;  and  its  abolition 
would  place  the  companies  under  still  smaller  cliques  than  now. 
But  distant  proxies  should  be  allowed  only  from  old  holders. 

Another  reason  of  the  corruption  of  these  companies,  is,  their 
being  instituted  by  special,  instead  of  general  charters;  so  that 
often  there  is  bribery  in  their  origin,  bribery  in  their  progress, 
and  bribery  to  prevent  the  chartering  of  rival  lines,  so  that  some 
at  least  of  the  officers  of  some  such  successful  roads,  must  be 
skillful  Generals  in  bribery. 

The  Postal  Organ  is  of  doubtful  position  in  the  classification, 
inasmuch  as  IT,  compared  with  "express"  companies,  or  other 
forwarders,  performs  a  much  larger  proportional  amount  of  local 
office  work.  For  instance.  The  office  expenses  of  other  for 
warders,  will  perhaps  only  be  one-twentieth  of  their  amounts 
paid  for  freight ;  but  the  office-expenses  of  the  Postal  Organ, 
would  perhaps  be  almost  or  quite  equal  to  the  amounts  paid  for 
freight.  Hence,  the  Mail-service,  although  really  a  kind  of 
transportation,  comes  rather  under  the  principles  of  a  local  busi 
ness.  It  is  well  known  that  private  persons,  or  Corporations, 
would  do  the  Mail-business  cheaper  and  more  satisfactorily  to  the 
public,  and  would  at  the  same  time  be  responsible  for  losses  as 
Common  carriers  ;  which  the  government  refuses  to  be,  even  for 
registered  letters.  And  a  further  advantage  would  be,  the  with 
drawal  of  the  vast 'power,  which  the  filling  of  the  Post  Office 
gives,  to  every  political  administration.  Besides,  its  management 
has  always  been  sectional ;  formerly  in  the  interests  of  the  South ; 
now  in  the  interests  of  the  West.  For  one  letter  weighing  one 
fourth  of  an  ounce,  to  charge  two  cents  from  one  street  to  another, 
in  the  same  city  or  county, — and  then,  for  a  newspaper  weighing 
four  ounces,  to  carry  all  the  way  from  Maine  to  California,  for  the 
same  price  !  We  would  not  object  so  much  to  charging  the  cities 
as  high  as  the  country,  provided  the  profits  thereof  were  ex 
pended  IN  the  cities,  in  counteracting  their  vices,  miseries,  and 
general  ill  health.  But  as  it  is,  the  system  is  unjust,  and  is  an 
other  of  the  methods  taken  to  stimulate  the  premature  settlement 
of  the  public  lands ;  and  to  promote  scatteration  generally. 


380  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

The  same  kind,  although  a  less  extensive,  superiority  of  private 
enterprise,  is  equally  certain  in  Telegraphy.  But  some  persons 
are  arguing  for  a  postal  telegraph.  Perhaps  the  newspaper-men 
want  this  "  improvement,"  (of  a  postal  telegraph) ;  or  perhaps 
the  land-speculators  want  it.  Or  perhaps  it  is  desired  to  have 
the  Postal  Telegraph  "run"  as  the  Post  Office  itself  is  "run." 
Or  perhaps  the  Lines  want  to  sell  out  at  a  good  profit :  "  Gov 
ernment  is  rich."  Or  perhaps  what  is  wanted  is,  increase  of 
official  patronage ;  or  else  a  monopoly  of  facilities  for  getting 
advantage  of  the  earliest  news.  But  cheap  telegraph  news  at 
the  public  expense,  answers  for  a  popular  cry.  Perhaps  cheap 
expressage  at  the  public  expense,  will  be  the  next  cry  ;  and  then, 
perhaps  free  travel ;  and  then,  what  next  ?  Perhaps  : — Free 
property  ? — or  what  ?  Or  ;  do  these  tendencies  arise,  not  so 
much  from  the  propensity  to  break  down  the  rights  of  property ; 
as  from  the  propensity  to  increase  the  CENTKAL  power?  It  may 
be  both  together :  and  then  the  power  of  the  latter  might  be  used, 
all  the  more  effectually,  to  break  down  the  rights  of  the  former. 

As  to  currency,  we  can  readily  imagine  how  different  would 
have  been  the  finale  of  the  United-States  Government-Loans, 
in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  if  the  government,  instead  of  select 
ing  an  organ  already  possessing  a  well-established  reputation, 
and  in  good  working  order,  had  attempted  to  organize,  in  the 
haste  of  war,  banking  firms  or  companies,  expressly  for  the  pur 
pose.  No  doubt,  banking  Corporations  could  be  formed,  that 
would  at  least  be  safe, — by  taking  time  and  care  in  their  con 
struction.  But  after  being  constituted,  it  is"  not  easy  to  reform 
their  errors,  or  to  change  them.  Whereas,  an  agency  well  -se 
lected  from  among  existing  ones,  if  it  should  prove  unsatisfac 
tory  upon  trial,  could  be  changed  at  once,  unless  some  foolish 
agreement  had  been  entered  into,  preventing  the  change.  But 
the  main  thing  here,  after  all,  is,  to  endeavor  to  find  how  Corpo 
rations  for  all  the  various  purposes  of  this,  and  of  the  subsequent 
divisions,  can  be  induced  to  grow  up  spontaneously,  like  the 
metaphysical  or  transcendental  ones  hereafter  spoken  of;  which 
first  ari^e  to  fulfill  the  functions  themselves  voluntarily,  and 
are  afterwards  availed  of  by  government,  for  the  fulfillment 
of  similar  functions  to  those  for  which  they  had  originally  been 
incorporated.  And  yet,  the  tendency  of  modern  laws  in  the 


SURVEY.    ACCORDING   TO   TEX   CHARACTERISTICS. 

United  States,  is,  to  forbid  all  spontaneous  attempts  of  this  kind; 
nor  would  the  free  allowance  of  them  probably  be  safe,  so  long 
as  either  gold  or  the  precious  metals  with  their  consequents,  and 
paper,  are  made  the  basis  of  currency :  or  perhaps  also,  so  long 
as  anything  else  is  made  such  a  basis,  except  well-selected  and 
transportable  merchandise ;  a  plan  for  which,  we  have  given  in 
the  Summary  Introduction,  and  is  to  be  resumed  under  the  head 
of  PROPERTY. 

Then  the  whole  matter  of  Currency  would  be  so  simplified, 
as  to  be  nothing  very  diiferent  from  any  other  kind  of  a  credit 
commerce. 

The  question  of  currency,  although  so  generally  treated  as  a 
governmental  one,  is  in  principle,  one  only  of  trade  or  business. 
Governments,  except  in  the  United  States,  have  generally  used 
the  function  of  coining  money,  as  one  method  of  taxation. 

No  supreme  or  national  government  yet  established,  is  perfect 
enough  to  be  entrusted  with  the  absolute  power  of  fixing  and 
altering  the  currency ;  whether  of  paper  or  of  coin.  All  that 
the  supreme  governments  are  perfect  enough  to  have  to  do  with 
it,  is,  to  regulate  and  control  and  enforce  the  contracts  for  it,  the 
same  as  for  any  other  articles.  And  restrictions  on  govern 
mental-power,  are  more  needed  in  reference  to  currency,  than  in 
reference  to  any  other  articles  of  contract ;  because  the  currency 
is  the  substance  and  expression  of  ALL  contracts.  Nearly  all 
the  great  Nations  of  the  world  have  repeatedly  debased  or  de 
teriorated  their  coins.  In  1834  the  United  States  government 
deteriorated  their  gold  coins  about  six  per  cent.  But  only  three 
years  subsequently,  came  the  great  panic  of  1837.  But  only  six 
months  previously,  the  silver  coin  had  been  deteriorated  nearly 
one  per  cent.  Again,  in  1854,  the  government- deteriorated  the 
silver  coins,  about  seven  per  cent,  further.  And  again  in  about 
three  years  came  the  panic  of  1857.  The  last  named  deteriora 
tion  was  made  to  the  silver  coin,  in  consequence  of  the  sudden 
and  large  increase  of  gold  receipts  from  California  and  Australia, 
which  cheapened  gold  greatly,  in  comparison  with  silver,  and 
which  were  even  cheapening  ALL  money,  at  nearly  the  rate  of  one 
per  cent,  per  annum, — and  when,  therefore,  the  strictly  just  course 
would  have  been,  to  have  increased  the  value  of  the  gold  coin  to 
its  former  value  of  1834,  instead  of  again  reducing  the  silver. 


382  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      IT.  II.  II. 

Now,  as  supreme  or  national  governments  are  not  perfect 
enough  to  be  entrusted  with  the  absolute  control  over  currency ; 
and  as  Individuals  have  not  sufficient  continuity  of  existence, 
nor  sufficient  impartiality;  therefore  Corporations  are  much 
better  instrumentalities  for  the  purpose ;  and  they,  to  be  held 
accountable  by  the  NATION,  as  for  the  performance  of  other 
contracts.  We  admit  that  contracts  for  currency  should  be  held 
as  of  national  concern,  and  therefore  should  be  subject  to  the 
Nation's  supervision. 

The  only  proper  governmental  tarnperings  with  the  currency  ? 
even  including  the  one  of  altering  the  standard  of  coin,  are  founded 
on  v  on  temporary  reasons,  and  as  expedients  of  relief  for  extraor 
dinary  cases.  They  are  all  at  best  only  bungling  methods  of 
doing  what  might  be  much  better  accomplished  by  a  simple  law 
authorizing  specified  discounts  to  be  deducted,  in  the  payment  of 
all  debts  contracted  previous  to  a  specified  time;  or  what  is  some 
times  still  better,  a  stay- law,  under  adequate  security,  or  by  a 
combination  of  both  methods.  Because,  debased  coins  are  scarcely 
'ever  restored ;  and  debased  government-paper  is  restored,  if  at 
all,  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  after  the  lapse  of  un 
necessary  years. 

(b)  The  Metaphysical.  The  sub-divisions  of  the  Metaphysical 
or  Transcendental  objects,  would  be  Morality,  Religion,  Charity 
and  Education.  But  these  are  objects  of  such  importance,  as  to 
require  consideration  as  elements  of  society,  under  the  heads  of 
Intellectuals  and  Morals,  in  the  Synthetics ;  and  arc,  for  the  most 
part,  deferred  to  that  branch  of  the  subject.  We  may,  however, 
say  here,  that  they  are  the  most  important  objects  that  Mankind, 
whether  as  Individuals  or  societies,  can  seek;  yet  the  experience 
of  ages  has  thus  far  proved,  that  the  more  the  political  govern 
ments  "leave  these  affairs  alone/'  the  better  the  affairs  prosper. 
This  ho\vever  is  not  owing  to  any  universal  principle  in  the 
nature  of  things ;  but  partly,  to  the  general  corruptness  of  political 
government,  and  partly  to  the  error  of  attempting  to  promote 
transcendental  objects,  by  COMMON  FORCE.  But  yet  we  see,  that 
society  spontaneously  puts  forth  organizations,  which  accomplish 
these  special  purposes  by  voluntary  means,  better  than  govern 
ments  could  do  by  their  coercion.  Now,  when  society  has  spon 
taneously  put  forth  appropriate  and  efficient  organs  for  these 


SURVEY.    ACCORDING   TO   TEN   CHARACTERISTICS.          333 

purposes,  political  governments  ought  to  be  wise  enough  to  per 
ceive  the  fact,  and  to  AID  the  institutions,  so  far  as  they  can 
reasonably  do,  without  corrupting  them.  The  various  political 
governments  of  the  United  States,  do,  in  fact,  pursue  this  method 
with  moral,  charitable  and  educational  societies.  But  when  they 
come  to  religion,  they  seem  to  lose  their  senses;  and  argue,  because 
men  have  different  preferences  in  religion,  that  government  must 
therefore  do  nothing  for  it;  just  as  if  men  had  not  preferences 
and  differences,  on  moral,  and  on  charitable,  and  on  educational 
questions.  Accordingly,  if  England  aids  the  Catholic  church 
in  Ireland,  or  the  Hindoostanee  establishment  in  India;  all 
Protestantism  is  in  excitement.  And  here,  even  a  public  school 
must  not  have  any  law,  except  the  prejudices  or  partialities  of 
the  Directors,  to  allow  religious  services  in  it. 

But  waiving  for  the  present,  the  question  of  religion,  it  is  evi 
dent  in  general,  that  society  has  learned  a  lesson  here,  which  it 
will  find  of  the  greatest  use  to  apply  to  all  this  class  of  Corpora 
tions,  whether  political  or  not  political,  and  whether  metaphysical 
or  physical, — the  lesson  of  aiding  organizations  spontaneously 
existing,  and  thus  using  them  as  its  own  organs.  By  this  method, 
governments  would  obtain  the  services  of  organizations,  that  had 
already  proved  their  efficacy  and  merits,  by  their  own  spontaneous 
success. 

§  7.  As  to  their  Nature  ;  whether  Simple  or  Confound. 

The  Simple  Corporations  would  be  those  for  Morality,  Re 
ligion,  Charity,  Education,  and  Productive  Business.  The  Com 
pound  would  be  Beneficial  Associations,  Insurance  Companies, 
Churches,  Theological  Seminaries,  Publication  and  Distribution 
Societies,  Hospitals,  Asylums  and  Educational  Institutions ;  also 
Corporations  for  Transportation  and  Currency ;  also  the  Gov 
ernmental  Corporations,  if  there  were  no  special  classification 
for  them. 

§  8.  As  to  the  Means  they  may  use. 

The  next  basis  of  classification  of  Corporations,  is,  upon 
the  kinds  of  power  they  may  employ : — (1)  Whether  they  may 
employ  only  voluntary,  i.e.  moral  power,  or  whether  they  may 
resort  to  distraint  on  property,  or  whether  to  coercion  of  the 
person.  (2)  As  to  whether  the  force  used  is  to  be  of  a  Semi- 
Family  nature ;  and  whether,  under  it,  they  are  to  seek  con- 


384  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

formity,  in  the  sense  of  uniformity  and  harmony,  or  whether,  to 
seek  absolute  obedience,  or  whether,  to  resort  to  the  alternative 
of  separation  and  dismission.  (3)  As  to  whether  the  force  used  is 
to  be  of  a  civil  governmental  kind,  namely,  whether  in  addition 
to  applying  coercion  to  the  Individual,  it  also  is  to  attempt  to 
punish,  in  order  to  exert  an  influence  on  others.  This  part  of 
the  classification  would  also  include  political  power,  and  the 
relations  of  the  Corporation  to  the  other  political  Elements, 
namely,  Precinct  and  Nation. 

§  9.  As  to  their  relations  to  Locality. 

(a)  Corporations  NOT  embracing  and  governing  their  Local 
ities.  In  general,  the  law  of  Corporations  without  political 
power,  ought  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  Individuals,  except  that 
their  officers  should  be  free  from  personal  liability;  and  the 
common  law  is  thus  far  correct,  in  calling  them  artificial  per 
sons. 

The  first  principle  to  be  considered  now,  in  regard  to  Corpo 
rations,  is  the  simple  fact  of  their  existence  in  or  out  of  the 
Locality  or  Precinct  in  which  they  are  intended  to  transact  their 
business.  And  by  the  pre-supposition,  this  class  is  the  one  which 
has  NO  relation  to  the  exercise  of  political  functions  in  the  Pre 
cinct  of  its  location.  In  regard  to  this  class,  it  is  evident,  that 
those  which  act  wholly  within  the  Precinct  in  which  they  are 
located,  ought  to  be  almost  entirely  free  from  all  national  and 
all  other  outside  interferences ;  whatever  the  nature  or  business 
of  such  a  Corporation  might  be,  provided  it  does  not  have  a 
direct  tendency  to  interfere  with  the  rights  of  persons,  or  organ 
izations,  outside  of  the  Precinct  or  Locality.  This  principle 
against  interference,  becomes  more  and  more  absolute,  exactly 
in  proportion  to  the  social  power  actually  exerted,  of  confining 
the  influence  of  such  Corporations  substantially  to  the  Precinct 
in  which  they  are  located,  so  far  as  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  influence  of  Individuals,  may  be  confined  to  or  within 
the  same  limits  •  but  no  farther  restrictions.  Even  then,  there 
will  remain  this  difference,  of  greater  power  of  government  over 
Corporations  than  over  Individuals  ;  inasmuch  as  from  the  very 
nature  of  Corporations,  they  cannot  remove,  like  Individuals, 
to  other  Localities,  that  is,  to  other  Precincts,  inasmuch  as 
such  a  removal  might  forfeit  the  charter,  or  essentially  change 


SURVEY..   ACCORDING   TO   TEN   CHARACTERISTICS.          335 

the  nature,  of  a  Corporation  organized  expressly  to  act  wholly 
within  its  own  Precinct;  and  that  is  the  kind  of  Corporation 
we  are  now  considering. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  What  would  you  do  about  Corporations 
organized  expressly  for  immoral  or  irreligious  purposes  ?  We 
would  reply,  we  would  just  do  with  them,  what  free  govern 
ments  now  do  with  irreligious  organizations,  and  even  what  the 
United  States  ought  to  have  done  with  rebellious  organizations, 
before  they  proceeded  to  any  overt  act  of  rebellion;  namely, 
allow  them  to  be  COUNTERACTED  by  OTHER  CORPORATIONS, 
and  by  Individuals.  We  would  let  them  alone ;  but  with  this 
difference  in  favor  of  our  theory,  that  it  only  applies  to  freedom 
within  the  Precinct ;  and  then  in  that  case,  the  Precinct  itself 
would  be  held  morally  accountable,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Na 
tion  and  of  Mankind ;  and  with  this  other  difference,  that  other 
Precincts  have  a  full  and  equal  right  to  exclude  all  such  Corpo 
rations,  and  even  their  emigrants,  their  advocates,  and  their  lit 
erature,  from  their  respective  localities :  so  far  as  they  choose  to 
do  so,  and  be  amenable  to  the  same  moral  judgments  of  Nation 
and  Mankind.  These  and  other  various  practical  means  would 
soon  bring  them  to  justice. 

Again,  you  may  ask,  What  would  you  do  about  Corporations 
of  this  evil  class,  if  established  EXPRESSLY  for  criminal  pur 
poses?  The  answer  would  be,  that  those  criminal  purposes 
which  are  private  in  their  nature,  and  have  no  direct  tendency 
to  injure  others,  except  by  example,  might  safely,  according  to 
the  principles  just  before  mentioned,  be  left  to  the  action  of 
their  own  Precinct ;  for,  that  is  the  locality  that  sees  the  ex 
ample,  and  suffers  by  it.  And  it  is  fundamental  to  our  theory, 
that  the  right  of  free  removal  from  one  Precinct  to  another,  of 
persons  with  their  property,  should  be  maintained;  so  that  if 
all  good  citizens  should  disapprove  of  any  given  proceedings^ 
and  should  despond  of  the  probability  of  the  Precinct  being 
reformed, — they  could  readily  remove  to  another.  But  it  is 
to  be  borne  in  mind  here,  that  what  one  age  or  denomination, 
judges  criminal,  another  does  not ;  and  this  difference  of  opinion 
is  another  argument  for  the  freedom  of  Corporations. 

But,  as  to  that  other  class  of  criminal  purposes,  which  are  not 
private,  and  which  are  direct  aggressions  against  established 

25 


386  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

rights,  and  which  would  tend  to  foster  a  class  of  criminals,  who 
would  prey  upon  the  rights  of  persons  or  property  situate  out 
side  of  the  Precinct ;  such  purposes  are  of  course  excluded  by 
the  nature  of  our  supposition.  And  Corporations  established 
for  any  such  purposes,  could  not  at  all  be  considered  in  the  class 
of  those  who  trinsact  their  business  entirely  within  the  Precinct. 
And  it  is  hard  ly  conceivable,  that  any  such  criminal  organiza 
tions  would  b*»  allowed  expressly  to  act  within  the  Precinct 
itself.  And  no  Precinct  recognizes  the  virtue  of  another,  only 
as  it  chooses  to. 

Now,  as  to  ihat  class  of  Corporations  which  transact  their 
business,  partly  within  and  partly  out  of,  their  own  Precinct ; 
why,  so  far  as  they  act  within  their  Precinct,  they  come  under 
the  class  just  a  «ove  mentioned ;  and  so  far  as  they  act  out  of 
their  Precinct,  i.fley  come  under  the  principles  of  the  class  we 
are  next  to  discus. 

Now,  as  to  ttut  other  class  of  Corporations,  which  are  to  act 
wholly  out  of  the  Precinct  or  Locality  in  which  they  are  situated, 
they  are  a  singular  and  curious  class.  For  instance,  the  state  of 
New  York  charters  a  Corporation  located  (?)  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  to  build  a  Railroad  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  or 
a  telegraph  line  on  the  coast  of  China,  or  to  conduct  some  busi 
ness  in  the  territory  of  Montana,  or  in  the  city  cf  Philadelphia. 
In  any  of  these  cases,  there  ought  to  be  no  difficulty  in  seeing 
the  true  principles  of  fairness.  By  the  comity  of  Precincts, 
such  as  now  exist  in  the  United  States,  and  also  by  express 
statute,  a  charter  given  by  one  Precinct  to  a  Corporation  that  is 
to  act  in  another  Precinct,  should  be  valid  in  all  other  Precincts, 
as  to  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  the  Corporation,  and  the  official 
character  of  its  officers.  But  on  the  other  hand,  such  a  Corpo 
ration,  as  to  its  action  in  those  other  Precincts,  should  have  no 
Bights  of  operation  whatever,  but  what  are  given  by  the  laws  of 
the  Precinct  IN  which  it  is  acting.  And  this  state  of  the  case 
refers  us  again  to  Corporations  WITHIN  their  Locality.  Be 
cause  a  charter  from  an  outside  Precinct,  should  do  no  more  than 
recognize  the  mere  fact  of  the  artificial  personality,  and  real  ex 
istence,  of  the  Corporation ;  but  is  not  thereby  bound  to,  either 
allow  or  enforce,  any  of  the  proceedings  thereof  within  its  own 
domestic  Locality;  and  perhaps,  not  even  in  any  other  Locality 


SURVEY.    ACCORDING  TO   TEN   CHARACTERISTICS. 

than  that  of  the  home  itself  of  the  said  outside  Corporation. 
The  case  is  just  the  same  as  the  nativity  of  an  Individual.  The 
nativity  of  an  Individual  only  constitutes  it  a  human  being,  but 
does  not  necessarily  give  it  official  or  political  rights  in  outside 
Localities,  only  so  far  as  the  latter  approve  of  so  doing. 

(b)  Corporations  Embracing  and  Govwning  their  Localities. 
There  is  a  class  of  Corporations,  which  exercise  only  a  partial 
degree  of  political  or  government-power,  of  a  secondary  kind, 
that  is  to  say,  a  kind  that  refers  to  some  one  idea  or  combination 
of  ideas ;  and  only  derived  by  express  grant  from  original  gov 
erning  bodies  in  the  Locality.  The  consideration  of  those  will 
be  taken  up  in  the  Third  Main  Division  of  Corporations.  We 
are  now  speaking  of  that  kind  of  Corporations  which  embrace 
their  Localities  as  a  idiote,  and  are  the  local  governing  power 
thereof.  For  convenience,  they  might  be  called  Federations. 
The  kind  of  powers  which  they  may  rightly  exercise,  is  that 
which  in  general,  is  now  considered  as  bestowed  upon  townships, 
boroughs,  and  counties. 

Here  would  be  the  place  to  arrange  for  and  treat,  "States" 
and  Large  Cities ;  if  the  reader  were  not  satisfied  with  our 
locating  them  under  PBECINCT,  Part  II.  Chap.  XII. 

But  every  ordinary  form  of  civil  government,  whether  over  a 
township,  or  a  confederation,  or  an  Empire  of  Nations,  is  a  sort 
of  Corporation  of  the  kind  here  mentioned,  namely,  the  kind 
which  governs  the  Locality  which  it  embraces.  But  when  we 
speak  in  a  more  restricted  sense,  only  "  states"  and  large  cities 
would  come  under  this  category.  But  we  have  already  con 
sidered  these  under  the  head  of  Precinct,  where  they  more 
properly  belong :  for  according  to  our  theory,  governmental 
Corporations  consist  essentially  of  persons  disseminated  in  va 
rious  inherently  political  Localities,  and  can  only  be  considered 
as  co-extensive  with  Localities,  in  the  final  success  of  a  system 
of  Corporations. 

This  class  of  Corporations  might  be  divided  into  two  kinds : 
one  of  which  is  positively  regarded,  by  most  persons,  as  a  gov 
ernment  ;  for  instance,  boroughs,  counties,  towns,  &c.  The 
other  of  which,  is  not  yet  so  regarded  generally,  because  they 
only  perform,  here  and  there,  one  or  more  special  functions  of 
government.  But  the  distinction,  after  all,  is  hardly  scientific 


388  BK-  IY-      CORPORATION.      II.  II.  II. 

but  popular  rather.  The  consideration  of  this  class  will  be  de 
ferred  to  the  Third  Main  Division.  This  is  the  same  class  which 
has  been  mentioned  above,  as  possessing  only  derivative  powers, 
or  exercising  only  derivative  functions. 

The  smaller  geographical  divisions,  do,  according  to  our 
theory,  possess,  not  a  secondary  or  granted  degree  of  power; 
but  original  inherent  rights,  at  Jeast  especially  the  smallest  of 
these  divisions;  being  what  we  regard  as  one  of  the  eternal 
Units,  the  Precinct.  But  the  kind  of  powder  which  is  usually 
attributed  to  them,  is  merely  the  power  we,  in  our  theory,  would 
attribute  to  Provinces,  Cities,  and  what  in  the  American  Union 
are  called  "  states."  The  writer's  theory  of  "  state  rights,"  knows 
of  nothing  of  this  higher  kind  of  power  in  "  states,"  except  as 
in  Precincts  or  in  Nations.  The  American  "states"  are  merely 
incorporated  bodies  with  double  charters.  In  their  case,  the 
charter  must  be  considered  as  originating  from  and  ratified,  both 
by  the  Nation  above  them,  on  the  one  hand,  and  by  the  Pre 
cincts  of  which  they  are  composed,  on  the  other  hand. — In  other 
words,  they  are  governmental  political  Corporations,  with  double 
charters. 

Very  nearly  the  same  principles  apply  to  the  rights  of  large 
cities.  The  intimate  providential  and  balancing  relations,  which 
exist  between  these  Corporations  called  "  states"  and  cities,  were 
pointed  out  when  treating  of  cities,  under  the  head  of  Precinct : 
Part  II.  Chap.  XII. 

§  10.  As  to  Governmental  and  Political  Functions. 

The  next  important  classification  would  be;  into  Corporations 
which  are  for  governmental  and  political  purposes;  and  those 
which  are  not  for  such  purposes.  This  division  is  only  mentioned 
here,  in  order  to  complete  scientifically  the  plan,  as  it  appears  in 
the  analysis,  of  treating  of  all  kinds  of  Corporations,  in  a  general 
way,  in  this  Main  Division.  If  we  were  to  enlarge  upon  it,  wre 
should  have  to  take  up  the  governmental  or  political  ones  here, 
also  in  a  general  way,  before  making  another  Main  Division. 
But  that  would  make  a  useless  break  in  the  main  subject  of  this 
article,  namely,  the  subject  of  Governmental  or  Political  Corpo 
rations  ;  therefore  we  place  them,  both  general  and  special,  in  the 
next,  namely,  the  Third  Main  Division. 


POLITICAL  CORP.    PRELIMINARIES.     CLASSIFICATIONS.      389 


MAIN    DIVISION    III. 

CORPORATIONS    WITH    POLITICO-GOV 
ERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS. 

SUB-DIVISION  I. 

PRELIMINARIES. 

CHAP.  I.   CLASSIFICATIONS. 


§  1.  Analytical  Table,  of  Politico-  Governmental  Corporations. 

'  TREATMENT  OF  CRIMINALS 

ill 

LOWER  OR  DE 
RIVATIVE 
ORDER;  EX 

FOR 
SINGLE 

FUNC 
TIONS 

COLLECTION  OF  TAXES 
POLICE  (AND  MILITARY) 
CIVIL-EXECUTIVE 
JUDICIAL 

MAIN  DIVISION. 

ERCISING 
FUNCTIONS 

DELIBERATIVE 

: 

—  o^o~— 

UNDER  PRES 

FOR 

CORPORATIONS  EX 
ERCISING     GOV 

ENT       GOV 
ERNMENTS 

GEN 
ERAL 

FUNC— 

GENERAL        ADMINISTRA 
TIVE  ;    NAMELY,  FOR  GEN 

ERNMENTAL  AND 

^       TTOVS 

ERAL  FUNCTIONS 

POLITICAL  FUNC 

HIGHER  OR-    f 

y 

TIONS 

DER;  EXER 

A  MULTIPLICITY.    BASED  ON  ISOLATED 

CISING     IN 

OR    SINGLE    IDEAS 

HERENT 

FUNCTIONS: 

A  FEW.     BASED  ON  A  FEW  PRINCIPAL 

AND    BASED 

COMBINATIONS    OF    IDEAS 

ON  IDEAS 

CHAP.  II.   DEFINITION. 

The  doctrine  of  Governmental  or  political  Corporations,  stated 
in  the  abstract,  is,  that  there  may  exist  a  variety  of  bodies-politic, 
operating  upon  the  same  grounds, — each  attending  to  its  own 
civil  and  political  duties.  These  would  be  governmental  Cor 
porations.  When  these  Corporations  differ  only  as  to  their 
functions,  we  have  the  First  Sub-Division,  namely,  those  which 
exercise  functions  derived  from  the  Governments  of  Localities. 
But  when  these  Corporations  differ  as  to  the  classes  of  Individuals 
whom  they  are  to  govern,  each  governing  its  own  members,  and 
letting  all  others  alone, — then  we  have  the  Second  Sub-Division, 
namely,  those  which  exercise  inherent  functions  based  on  ideas. 


390  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  I.  IV. 

All  the  objects  and  functions  considered  under  this  general 
head,  belong  to,  and  may  properly  be  considered  as  referring  to, 
all  the  different  kin'ds  of  Corporations ;  and  even  to  the  great 
Units  of  society;  inasmuch  as  they  partake  of  the  nature  of 
these.  Hence,  most  of  the  remarks  to  be  made  under  this  head, 
will  apply  to  all  Corporations,  and  partly  even,  to  all  other  gov 
ernment-organs  :  although  the  particular  organs  of  society,  first 
to  be  discussed,  are  supposed  to  have  only  some  of  the  functions, 
and  to  aim  at  only  some  of  the  objects  of  government.  In  other 
words,  we  are  now  to  consider  the  newly  developed  special  or 
gans,  that  are,  from  time  to  time,  putting  forth,  each  to  accom 
plish  its  own  object ;  in  accordance  with  the  great  biological  law, 
that,  the  higher  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  the  development  of  being, 
the  more  we  find,  that  every  different  function  has  its  own  organ, 
specially  for  its  particular  purpose.  Corporations  are  the  new 
organs,  which,  as  governments  develop,  must  be  put  forth,  so  that 
each  function  may  have  its  own  special  organs ;  and  so  that  each 
organ  or  each  set  of  organs,  may  be  different  from  every  other 
organ  or  set.  But  sometimes,  one  function  calls  for  several  organs, 
as  the  perspiring  skin  has  its  thousands  of  pores,  and  the  nutritive 
organs  have  their  hundreds  of  lacteals ;  and  often,  the  organs 
for  each  function,  come  in  pairs,  corresponding  to  the  duality  in 
naturei  And  in  a  few  cases,  each  function  has  only  one  organ. 

CHAP.  III.    GOVERNMENTS   SHOULD   SELECT   RATHER   THAN 
CREATE   THEIR   CORPORATIONS. 

One  important  suggestion  here  is,  that  government  should  do 
as  little  as  possible  towards  the  direct  or  actual  creation  of  Polit 
ical  Corporations ;  but  do  as  much  as  would  be  consistent  with 
safety  and  incorruptness,  to  induce  societies  to  organize  of  their 
own  accord,  for  somewhat  similar  purposes.  Government  should 
endeavor  to  call  forth  its  needed  Corporations,  rather  by  encour 
aging  their  formation,  than  by  actually  creating  them.  To  carry 
this  principle  into  practice,  the  greatest  freedom  of  forming 
Corporations  would  be  indispensably  necessary. 

CHAP.  IV.     PROMOTIONS   OF   CORPORATIONS. 

Another  suggestion  is,  that  Corporations  might  be  promoted 
from  one  function  to  another ;  but  of  course,  not  only  in  a  merely 


POLITICAL  CORP.     PRELIMINARIES.     PROGRESSION.         39J 

outward  or  formal  way.  There  is  first  to  be  considered,  an  out 
ward  promotion,  namely,  the  promotion  of  a  Corporation  from 
acting  for  a  Precinct,  to  the  office  of  performing  the  same  func 
tions  for  a  larger  Locality,  or  a  much  higher  generality.  But 
this  is  not  the  main  promotion  we  refer  to,  although  it  should 
by  no  means  be  undervalued.  But  the  kind  of  promotion  we 
chiefly  mean,  is  one,  that  elevates  to  higher  kinds  of  function, — 
one,  that  is  performed  by  an  inward  and  living  process,  the  like 
of  which  is  not  fd'und  in  any  science  less  spiritual  or  metaphys 
ical  than  Biology,  and  only  there  found,  by  .close  observation, 
and  in  a  few  cases.  For  instance,  the  surplus  life-power  which 
seems,  in  infancy,  to  produce  growth,  does,  after  puberty,  turn 
to  a  power  to  reproduce  its  kind.  And  at  a  still  later  age,  the 
generative  power  passes  away,  whilst  the  life-power  is  all  con 
centrated  in  maintaining  the  life  of  the  Individual. 

And  it  is  not  inconceivable,  nor  even  entirely  absurd,  to  hope, 
that  the  time  may  come,  in  the  case  of  human  Biology,  when 
this  life-power  may  be  turned  to  complete  the  perfection,  and 
perhaps  even  the  undying  longevity,  of  the  Individual-man. 
Such  a  hope  is,  for  some  reason  or  other,  entertained  by  the 
Prussian  naturalist  Karl  Ernst  von  Baer,  and  by  J.  H.  Noyes 
and  his  coadjutors.  But,  if  not  the  Individual,  perhaps  the  race 
may  become  perpetual,  by  means  of  promotions  of  functions. 

It  would  be  presumptuous,  to  attempt  to  foretell  exactly  the 
order,  in  which  the  promotions  of  Corporations  could  take  place ; 
but  we  may  presently  offer  some  suggestions  as  to  them,  in  con 
nection  with  the  other  particulars. 

CHAP.  V.     CORPORATIONS,  TO   BE   PROGRESSIVE   WITH   THE 
PRECINCT. 

Although  the  theory  of  Corporations  is  abstract  from  Local 
ity,  nevertheless,  whatever  exists  at  all,  must  exist  somewhere; 
and  therefore  any  actual  system  of  Corporations  must  have  some 
Locality,  whether  that  of  Precinct,  Nation  or  Whole  Earth. 
And  as,  the  smaller  the  Locality  is,  the  more  any  actually  new 
system  of  Political  Corporations,  wou  d  be  likely  to  be  adopted; 
therefore  the  Precinct-system  seems  necessary,  in  order  to  give 
perfect  practicability  to  the  Corporations.  Nevertheless,  a  large 
system  of  Precincts  is  not  necessary  to  precede,  because  the  sue- 


392  BK-  IV-    CORPORATION,    in.  ii.  ir. 

cess  of  the  Corporations,  in  a  few  select  Precincts,  might  be  ac 
cepted  as  a  sufficient  proof  of  their  practicability  in  the  Nation 
as  a  totality.  On  the  other  hand,  the  highest  differentiations  of 
the  Corporation-system,  seem  to  require  the  pre-existence  of  the 
Precinct- ;  so  that  both  systems  can  only  develop  together, 
which,  as  Spencer  says,  is  the  method  of  the  development  of 
the  sciences  generally. 


SUB-DIVISION  II. 

CORPORATIONS  WITH    DERIVATIVE    POLITICAL 
FUNCTIONS. 

CHAP.  I.     EXPLANATION. 

The  class  of  Corporations  we  are  now  to  consider,  are,  first, 
those  exercising  functions  derived  from  political  government- 
organizations,  namely ;  those  which  exercise  only  a  partial  de 
gree  of  political  or  governmental  power,  of  a  derivative  kind, 
obtained  by  express  grant  from  original  governing  bodies  ;  and 
to  perform  some  of  their  functions,  which  would  otherwise  be 
deputed  to  government  persons  or  officers.  Although  the  real 
difference  between  these  and  other  Corporations,  (subsequently 
to  be  considered),  so  far  as  rights  are  concerned,  consists  rather 
in  the  first  kind  being  regarded  by  the  people  generally,  as  a 
civil  government;  and  the  other,  not  yet  so  regarded.  So  that 
the  distinction  of  their  rights  is  popular  rather  than  scientific. 
Thus,  this  Division  of  Corporations,  bears  the  same  relation  to 
Corporations  as  a  whole,  that  they  bear  to  the  Local  Govern 
ments.  This  is  so,  both  in  their  derivative  nature,  and  in  their 
popular  non-apprehension.  This  division  may  also  be  distin 
guished  from  the  second,  by  the  consideration,  that  this  is  for 
functions,  and  that  is  for  ideas. 

CHAP.  II.    CORPORATIONS   FOR  SINGLE   FUNCTIONS. 

§  1.  In  General. 

Corporations  should  not  act  for  only  one  employer  or  prin 
cipal,  but  each  such  Corporation  should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  so 
constituted,  that  it  would  perform  somewhat  similar  functions 


POLITICAL   CORP.     DERIVATIVE.    SINGLE   FUNCTIONS.      393 

for  a  variety  of  employers  or  principals,  or  on  its  own  account 
also.  This  latter  condition,  in  selecting  and  constituting  them, 
— would  be  similar  in  principle  to,  although  different  in  origin 
from, — availing,  of  Corporations  already  existing  for  their  own 
business-purposes.  And  when  this  cannot,  from  the  nature  of 
the  case,  be  done;  the  one  Corporation  should  be  allowed  to 
fulfill  its  own  peculiar  government-functions,  for  several  Pre 
cincts  or  Localities,  so  far  as  possible.  This  creates  opportunity 
of  comparison,  on  the  one  hand.  On  the  other  hand,  a  Corpo 
ration,  if  ill  used,  or  if  too  independent  to  allow  itself  to  be 
used  as  a  political  tool,  by  one  Precinct  or  Locality,  may  be  free 
to  dispense  with  the  patronage  of  that  one,  having  other  Pre 
cincts  or  Localities,  upon  which  to  fall  back  for  employment. 
All  this  is  simply  introducing  the  common  experience  and  wis 
dom  of  the  business  world,  into  political  government. 

The  full  accomplishment  of  this,  requires  the  constitution,  we 
have  elsewhere  maintained,  of  a  large  number  of  small  semi- 
independent,  or  State-Precincts ;  although  most  of  this  principle 
might  be  applied  by  the  present  organizations  of  townships  and 
counties,  if  they  were  not  too  much  given  to  requiring  those 
who  work  for  them,  to  reside  in  the  district  of  their  operations. 
For  evidently,  if,  for  instance,  a  police,  whether  of  Individuals 
or  of  Corporations,  is  to  act  for  several  Precincts,  it  must  be 
left  free  from  the  necessity  of  residing  in  its  place  of  occupation. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  possible  application  of  these 
principles,  by  national  governments?  We  answer;  first;  that 
the  principles  just  set  forth,  for  application  by  Precincts,  may 
be  applied  by  Nations,  when  that  national  organ  called  patriot 
ism,  shall  have  become  a  minimum,  or  shall  have  been  partly 
absorbed  or  divided  away,  among  Precincts  and  Corporations ; 
so  that  one  Nation  could  trust  the  Individuals  and  Corporations 
of  or  from  another  Nation,  to  perform  some  of  its  political  or 
governmental  functions ;  just  as  Precincts  or  Corporations  now 
do;  just  as  the  time  has  passed  away  (except  among  Turks  and 
Chinese,  &c.),  when  a  foreigner  was  thought  not  fit  even  to  be 
trusted  with  the  privilege  of  a  common  merchant,  much  less  of 
a  landholder.  But,  second,  and  mainly ;  we  answer ;  that  these 
ideas  are  to  be  applied  to  national  affairs,  by  adhering  to  the 
principle,  but  reversing  it: — just  as  the  mucous  membrane  is 


394  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  II.  II. 

one  with  the  outside  skin,  but  is  reversed.  Instead  of  one  Cor 
poration  working  for  several  governments,  we  may  need  to  have 
the  national  government  adopting  several  Corporations  to  fulfill 
the  same  one  function, — a  plurality  of  organs, — two,  if  that 
bring  sufficient  comparison;  but  if  not,  then  as  many  more  as 
may  be  needed.  If  the  functions  to  be  performed  are  too  few 
for  more  than  one  Corporation  in  a  given  Locality,  then  let 
them  operate  in  alternate  or  neighboring  Localities,  throughout 
some  given  field.;  just  as  government  has  policy  enough,  in  the 
merely  material  matters  of  Railroads,  &c.,  to  grant  its  lands 
away  in  alternate  sections,  all  along  the  routes ;  instead  of  all 
in  one  Locality,  which  the  road  or  company  might  select. 
§  2.  For  Treatment  of  Criminals. 

The  object  of  the  punishment  of  criminals,  is  becoming  evi 
dently  more  and  more  resolvable  into  the  object,  "  treatment  of 
the  erring,"  and  so  far  as  this  is  true,  it  is  manageable  by  the 
Corporations  for  the  transcendental  purposes,  namely,  Moral 
ity,  Religion,  Charity  and  Education.  The  little  of  personal 
spontaneous  guilt  then  remaining,  in  excess  of  that  which  is 
generally  allowed  to  run  loose  in  society,  would  require  the  in 
troduction  of  an  element  scarcely  yet  to  be  found  in  voluntary 
Corporations.  Such  an  element  would  therefore  have  to  be  de 
rived  from  governments,  by  special  charter,  or  by  some  more 
express  and  special  grant  than  the  others :  and  in  this  case,  both 
the  duties  and  the  restrictions,  might  be  clearly  set  forth  by  the 
government;  and  a  special  acceptance  thereof,  be  required  from 
the  Corporation. 

As  a  basis  then,  to  begin  the  promotions  with,  observe,  that 
some  governments  have  already  introduced  into  the  management 
of  criminals,  a  considerable  degree  of  the  power  of  the  benevo 
lent  and  moral  Corporations,  (namely,  those  for  Morality,  Re 
ligion,  Charity  and  Education.)  Suppose  then,  some  govern 
ment  were  to  try  the  experiment,  in  a  limited  field,  of  giving 
the  control  of  criminal  almost  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the 
moral  and  benevolent  societies,  subject  only  to  the  restrictions, 
that  the  criminals  should  not  be  turned  loose  on  the  community, 
without  the  consent  of  the  political  government ;  and  that  the 
criminals  should  not  be  treated  any  more  severely  than  "the 
law"  for  prisons  allowed.  And  suppose  such  experiments  were 


POLITICAL   CORP.     DERIVATIVE.     SINGLE   FUNCTIONS.       395 

actually  to  prove,  in  the  end,  undoubted  successes ;  as  indeed 
there  is  hardly  any  doubt  that  they  would.  Here  is  a  basis  to 
begin  with.  Then  a  successful  Corporation  of  that  kind,  might 
be  promoted  to  the  function  of  managing  professional  paupers. 
The  managers  might  be  readily  induced,  voluntarily  to  under 
take  the  new  function,  in  addition  to  the  old  one,  by  giving  them 
separate  buildings,  and  separate  sub-organizations  for  each  func 
tion,  at  the  public  expense,  of  course.  Such  experiments  also, 
we  have  no  doubt,  would  prove  stupendous  successes,  if  the  gov 
ernments  would  only  grant  the  managers  sufficient  power.  But 
we  cannot  admit  that  criminals  should  have  the  higher  or  pro 
moted  order  of  care,  even  if  it  be  true  that  they  require  more 
scientific  treatment :  because  justice  must  ever  be  preferred  to 
merely  apparent  policy. 

The  next  step  would  be  to  select  the  most  successful  of  these 
already  promoted  Corporations,  and  relieve  them  altogether  from 
the  care  of  criminals,  so  that  they  might  devote  themselves 
exclusively  to  the  "  unfortunates,"  and  the  paupers,  and  to  re 
storing  them  to  honor  and  usefulness.  By  unfortunates  we  mean, 
the  five  classes,  Fallen  women,  Habitually  intemperate  persons, 
Paupers,  Persons  accused  of  crime  but  not  yet  convicted,  and 
Youths  in  danger  of  being  involved  in  habitual  crime.  And  each 
of  these  five  classes  of  persons,  should  of  course  be  placed  in 
charge  of  a  diiferent  Society.  Promotion,  as  to  these  five,  might 
begin  with  the  last  named  one,  and  perhaps  end  with  the  first 
named  ;  as  that  is  the  order  of  difficulty  of  the  work  to  be  done 
in  each  case.  But  more  probably,  the  treatment  of  only  one  of 
these  classes  would  be  sufficient,  in  order  to  qualify  for  promo 
tion  to  some  higher  governmental  functions.  And  voluntary 
societies  would  not  be  profited  by,  nor  consent  to,  very  frequent 
changes  of  their  functions,  unless  organized  for  that  object. 

Those  societies  which  had  proved  themselves  reliable  and  effi 
cient,  in  the  management  and  reforms,  of  criminals,  and  profes 
sional  paupers,  and  other  unfortunates, — would  certainly  exhibit 
and  prove  a  high  degree  of  Legislative,  Police,  and  Judicial 
wisdom.  We  will  then  pause  here,  for  the  present,  with  their 
promotions,  and  take  up  another  line  of  thought ;  confident  of 
this  at  least,  that  their  wisdom  and  power  can  be  utilized  in  some 
higher  forms,  whenever  we  are  ready  for  them. 


396  BK-  IV-      COEPOKATION.      Til.  II.  II. 

§  3.  For  Collection  of  Taxes. 

As  to  the  collection  of  taxes ;  all  persons  ought  to  know,  how 
difficult  it  is  to  ascertain  each  Individual's  share  thereof;  and 
how,  by  false  swearing  and  other  means,  much  of  our  taxation 
is  really,  in  the  end,  more  of  a  tax  on  honesty  and  veracity,  than 
it  is  on  the  income,  importation,  or  business,  of  the  Individual. 
Hence,  we  need  not  wonder  so  much,  that  Koine  adopted  the 
policy  of  selling  out  the  privilege  of  taxation  to  the  highest  bid 
der  !  And  the  successful  bidder  would  probably  be  the  smartest 
man  in  finding  out  the  real  valuation.  But  we,  in  modern  times, 
ought  to  improve  on  that  method,  and  even  upon  our  own. 

Probably  the  best  method  for  first  trial,  would  be,  to  intrust 
the  whole  business  of  collection  of  taxes,  to  those  Corporations 
that  had  already  obtained  a  superior  and  long-established  char 
acter  as  financial  organs,  that  is,  the  Banks  or  the  Trust  Com 
panies.  This  would  be  going  to  the  Physical  non-political 
elements,  selecting  an  approved  organ,  and  promoting  it  to  a 
political  function,  something  in  the  same  manner  as  we  have 
just  before  been  considering,  in  the  case  of  the  metaphysical. 
And  in  both  cases,  there  would  in  time,  probably  grow  out  of 
the  new  and  promoted  society,  a  division,  according  to  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  division  of  labor,  whereby,  one  part  would  devote 
itself  entirely  to  the  new  function.  Even  the  very  evils  and 
troubles  of  the  combined  stages,  would  hasten  the  time  of  the 
division,  when  the  old  "  fogies"  would  return  to  their  first  work, 
and  allow  the  new  part  of  the  organ  to  go  on  more  freely  with 
its  own  functions. 

§  4.  For  Police-and-Military  Functions. 

Our  theory  does  not  recognize  war  very  gladly,  nor  at  all, 
only  so  far  as  war  is  a  "  necessary  evil,"  as  if  indeed  it  ever 
could  really  be  either  necessary  or  expedient  at  all.  Therefore 
we  must  regard  the  military  power,  at  best,  as  only  a  develop 
ment  from  the  police,  in  fact,  as  a  promoted  order  of  police 
officers.  Hence  it  is  only  to  a  very  limited  extent,  and  for  a  FEW 
persons,  that  we  could  appropriate  into  our  theory,  the  idea  of 
an  exclusively  theoretical  military  education.  But  all  that  is 
good,  in  the  high  spirit  that  prevails  among  military  men,  might 
be  passed  over  to  the  police,  although  not  necessarily  to  all  the 
present  Individuals  therein.  But,  by  presenting  the  idea,  that 


POLITICAL   CORP.     DERIVATIVE.     SINGLE   FUNCTIONS.      397 

police  services  were  necessary  to  promotion  in  the  regular  army, 
and  gradually  even  requisite  to  other  executive  offices;  and  by 
supplying  police  officers  freely,  with  the  preparatory  military,  and 
other  executive  education,  necessary  to  aid  them  in  those  profes 
sions  ;  and  by  corresponding  examinations  of  fitness, — the  spirit 
and  self-respect  of  the  order  would  be  highly  raised,  and  better 
classes  of  men  would  be  drawn  into  the  organization.  All  this 
would  happen,  by  making  the  outward  organization  correspond, 
as  far  as  practicable,  to  the  inward  theory  and  spirit, — by  main 
taining  that  justifiable  war,  and  even  other  executive  force,  are 
only  extended  functions  of  police-duty. 

The  proposition  has  already  been  made,  to  incorporate  compa 
nies  for  the  purpose  of  detective  police,  but  we  do  not  know  with 
what  success.  But  if  they  be  possible,  then  there  might  in  time 
grow  out  of  them,  the  possibility  of  military  authority  being 
vested  in  a  Corporation. 

§  5.  For  Civil-Executive  Functions. 

Executive  functions  naturally  belong  to  the  police  and  mili 
tary  class,  although  of  course,  executive  faculties  are  required 
and  developed  by  the  headship  of  every  department  of  govern 
ment,  and  of  every  association.  The  veto-power  is  a  conglom 
erate  thing,  a  mixture  of  executive  with  legislative  functions,, 
and  ought  to  be  withdrawn,  to  have  substituted  instead  of  it,  a 
specified  largeness  of  majority.  On  this  basis,  then,  there  is  a 
probability  that  a  Corporation  could,  if  required,  fulfill  execu 
tive  functions.  But,  as  the  Corporation  itself  must  select  its 
Individuals,  the  institution  and  the  Individual  would  both  be 
performing  the  same  functions,  and  therefore,  it  is  possible  that 
Corporations  might  be  dispensed  with,  under  this  head. 

The  principle  involved  in  this  argument,  is  one  reason  why 
a  Corporation  can  never  perfectly  fulfill  all  the  functions  of  a 
Nation.     For  a  Nation  is,  in  spirit,  the  executive  power  of  the 
sum  of  all  its  Localities,  namely,  its  Locality  as  a  whole. 
•  j          §  6.  For  Judicial  Functions. 

In  regard  to  judicial  functions,  it  is  not  yet  easy  to  see, 
how  these  could  be  advantageously  entrusted  to  a  Corporation, 
in  any  other  way  than  indirectly,  namely,  as  being  involved  in 
the  functions  of  Corporations  previously  established  for  other 
purposes. 


398  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  II.  II. 

§  7.  For  Deliberative  Functions. 

Although  Legislatures  themselves  may  not  be  constituted  as 
Corporations,  yet  the  political  bodies  who  nominate  and  elect 
them,  might  easily  be  so  constituted.  We  allude  to  elementary 
spontaneous  political  organizations.  We  find  in  the  United 
States,  spontaneously  originated  organizations,  of  every  ward 
county  and  state,  as  well  as  of  the  whole  country,  for  nomi 
nating  and  electing  candidates.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  this 
vast  outgrowth,  can  be  trained  in  and  directed  to  further  pur 
poses,  and  at  the  same  time,  be  so  controlled  as  to  accomplish 
those  purposes  better  than  they  now  fulfill  their  proposed  ends. 
By  refining  them  into  a  suitable  system  of  political  clubs,  we 
hope  hereafter  to  show  (mainly  in  the  article  on  Civil  Govern 
ment  and  Elections)  that  this  element,  voluntary  political  clubs, 
can  be  turned  into  the  function  of  direct  election  of  representa 
tives,  whereby  the  voice  of  every  Individual  would  continue  to 
be  heard,  each  for  himself;  instead  of  those  organizations  only 
nominating  candidates  for  a  majority  representation,  and  a  con 
glomerate  decision.  By  thus  making  the  influence  and  func 
tions  of  these  voluntary  political  clubs,  direct  instead  of  indirect, 
we  afford  a  chance  for  some  of  them  to  establish,  for  themselves, 
a  permanent  reputation  for  political  fairness,  honesty,  and  wis 
dom, — a  reputation  that  might  be  maintained,  generation  after 
generation. 

Supposing,  then,  a  reputation  for  such  a  character,  to  have 
l)een  sufficiently  established,  surely  it  could  be  utilized  some 
where,  and  for  some  higher  end,  and  in  some  higher  method. 
It  is  too  soon  yet  to  see  just  how,  and  for  what  immediate  ends, 
this  utilization  should  take  place.  But  it  is  evidently  possible, 
that  out  of  it,  ultimately  might  grow  up  a  great  system  of  civil 
government,  by  Corporations  over  their  own  voluntary  members ; 
and  thereby  to  that  extent,  releasing  them  from  the  local  or  gen 
eral  political  governments;  just  as  ancient  Rome  allowed  for 
eigners,  resident  there,  to  judge  themselves  by  their  own  laws 
and  proceedings.  More  will  be  said  of  this,  in  a  subsequent 
part  of  this  article.  In  the  character,  then,  established  by  such 
voluntary  political  clubs,  there  is  a  ground  of  promoting  some 
of  them  to  some  higher  purpose,  to  be  afterwards  discovered. 


POLITICAL   CORP.     DERIVATIVE.     GENERAL   FUNCTIONS.     399 
CHAP.  III.    CORPORATIONS   FOR   GENERAL   FUNCTIONS. 

§  1.  Classifications. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  fact,  that  in  the  United  States,  the  terms 
general  administration  apply  to  the  National  government,  this 
class  ought  to  be  called  Corporations  of  General  Administra 
tion.  These  are  the  last  and  highest  kind  the  world  has  yet 
seen,  of  political  Corporations,  as  denned  by  their  objects, 
namely,  those  for  General  Administration.  These,  though  apt 
to  be  confounded  with  the  executive  office,  are  entirely  different; 
for  they  combine  and  exercise  several,  or  all,  the  different  func 
tions  of  government, — the  different  kinds  above  mentioned.  But. 
the  last  named  class,  namely,  those  for  deliberative  functions, 
might  possibly  be  included  under  this  more  general  head,  be 
cause  the  deliberative  function  relates  to  all  the  others,  and  even 
relates  to  itself  also :  like  the  power  of  thought,  which  studies 
thinking,  as  well  as  other  things. 

This  class,  for  General  Political  Administration,  readily  passes 
into  that  of  Corporations  embracing  and  governing  their  Locali 
ties  ;  but  must  be  distinguished  also  from  them.  They,  we 
found,  were  cities  and  states  ;  they  derive  their  origin  partly 
from  the  Localities  in  which  they  exist ;  and  are  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  Precincts  which  they  include,  that  they 
belong  rather  to  the  head  of  Precinct,  where  we  have  placed 
them,  than  to  Corporation.  But  these  Corporations  we  are  now 
speaking  of,  namely,  those  for  general  political  functions,  do  not 
necessarily  correspond  with  the  Locations  which  they  govern, 
nor  do  they  derive  their  authority  from  them.  The  British  East 
India,  and  Hudson's  Bay,  and  Dutch  East  India,  Companies, 
are  instances  in  point ;  so  also,  are  the  colonization-companies 
of  various  ages.  These  colonization-companies,  after  becoming 
permanent  in  their  adopted  Locations,  gradually  pass  over  into 
Corporations  actually  embracing  and  governing  their  Localities. 
But  the  two  are  not,  on  that  account,  to  be  confused,  any  more 
than  the  citizenships  of  two  different  countries  should  be  con 
fused  by  an  Individual  changing  his  citizenship  from  one  to 
another;  nor,  for  instance,  than  Normandy  must  be  confused 
with  England,  by  William  of  Normandy  becoming  King  of 
England. 


400  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  II.  III. 

§  2.   Uses. 

The  function  of  general  administration,  is  more  suitable  to 
a  Corporation,  than  any  single  function ;  because,  as  has  been 
already  said,  that  element  is  the  best  type  of  civil  government ; 
which,  in  all  forms,  is  a  kind  of  unartificial  Corporation  consti 
tuted  by  nature,  in  general,  and  especially  in  the  United  States. 

History  helps  us  more  with  examples  of  this  kind,  than  with 
those  that  exercise  only  one  political  function.  In  fact,  both  for 
the  formation  of  new  settlements,  and  for  the  government  of 
permanent  colonies,  History  shows,  how  much  better  and  more 
successful,  the  plan  of  Corporations  is ;  than  either  the  plan  of 
direct  home-government,  or  of  deputy  governors,  or  of  private 
action  and  Individual  enterprise.  If  the  United  States  had 
conducted  its  settlements  in  the  West,  on  this  principle  of  Cor 
porations,  all  the  blessings  of  civilization  might  have  been  car 
ried  steadily  forward,  with  the  settlements.  Indian  wars  might 
have  been  prevented,  the  Indians  themselves  absorbed  in  the 
Corporations ;  and  by  preventing  the  immediate  and  irritating 
causes  of  the  Southern  Rebellion,  that  great  war  itself  might 
have  been  prevented. 

§  3.  Genesis. 

Let  us  premise  here,  however,  that,  even  if  we  fail  to  show 
the  practicability  of,  or  the  methods  of,  producing  and  culti 
vating  Corporations  for  general  political  purposes;  it  would 
still  be  very  premature  to  suppose,  that  they  never  could  be 
cultivated  or  produced :  for,  perhaps  it  may  not  be  possible,  to 
point  out  how  the  combined  organizations  can  be  developed, 
until  after  the  Corporations  for  the  various  special  and  ele 
mentary  functions  before  mentioned,  shall  have  been  separately 
produced.  For,  as  has  been  said  in  the  Introduction,  the  true 
science  of  society,  cannot  go  very  far  in  advance  of  the  progress 
of  the  foremost  phases  of  society  itself. 

The  Corporations  that  we  have  already  mentioned,  would,  by 
their  variety,  and  their  promotions,  have  produced  the  men  and 
the  methods,  from  which  might  be  selected  the  various  elements 
to  form  these  Corporations  for  general  administration.  Those 
previous  ones,  should  also  have  produced  the  wisdom  and  the 
disposition,  for  the  successful  combination  of  the  elements.  It 
is  scarcely  to  be  expected  of  this  high  kind  of  Corporations,  that 


POLITICAL   CORP.     DERIVATIVE.     GENERAL   FUNCTIONS.     4Q1 

they  could  be  formed,  like  some  that  have  already  been  mentioned, 
namely,  by  the  direct  combination  of  pre-existing  organizations. 
Perhaps,  for  this  high  kind  of  Corporations,  all  that  can  be  ex 
pected  from  the  previous  ones,  is,  the  men,  the  dispositions,  and 
the  ideas. 

It  is  possible,  that  sometimes  these  Corporations  might  grow 
out  of  a  combination  of  the  developments  of  Insurance  and 
Police, — that  is  to  say,  Corporations  might  be  entrusted  with 
governmental  powers,  by  undertaking  to  insure  the  public  against 
Individual  losses,  either  from  their  own  errors,  or  from  rogues ; 
and  by  assuming  the  expenses  and  duties  of  the  detection  of 
criminals.  But  of  course,  to  be  balanced  by  leaving  their  pun 
ishment  or  treatment,  to  the  organs  that  should  approve  them 
selves  capable  of  those  separate  functions ;  and  of  course,  not  to 
be  judges  in  their  own  cases,  or  even  in  cases  involving  similar 
Corporations. 

The  actual  realization  of  a  Corporation  of  this  kind,  involving 
as  it  would,  the  exercise  of  combined  functions,  would  require 
and  presuppose,  that  there  should  be  a  union  of  two  separate 
organizations ;  one  of  which,  should  have  grown  up  from  a  fully 
approved  insurance  organization,  and  the  other  from  a  fully  ap 
proved  police  Corporation.  Then,  nearly  all  that  would  remain 
to  do,  would  be  to  get  them  to  combine,  in  one  business  or  in  one 
function.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  analogy  for  this,  that  is  for 
the  combination  of  two  organs  into  one,  can  be  found  in  physical 
biology.  The  combination  of  sex  might  be  compared,  but  that 
is  in  reality  metaphysical,  so  far  as  we  yet  know.  And  in  meta 
physical  objects,  we  can  find  other  and  ample  analogies,  as  of 
ideas  and  feeling  and  will,  uniting  into  one  mentality. 

The  very  idea  of  voluntary  governmental  Corporations,  seems 
to  have  originated  with  the  religious  element  of  human  nature : 
the  religions  of  most  countries  and  of  all  ages,  having  sponta 
neously  .embodied  themselves  in  organizations  tantamount  to 
Corporations. 

The  perception,  but  misunderstanding  of  this  truth,  is  what 
has  induced  some  writers,  to  charge  the  religious  element  with 
producing  caste,  and  secret  associations,  in  ancient  times.  But  the 
general  principle  really  budding  into  existence,  could  not  be  un 
derstood  until  the  true  theory  of  Corporations  became  manifested. 

26 


402  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  I. 

The  Corporations  of  the  Catholic  church,  in  Catholic  coun 
tries,  developed  them  pretty  fully ;  but  politico-religious  Corpo 
rations  of  all  ages,  have  been  conducted  chiefly  for  the  protection 
of  religious  officials,  rather  than  of  the  people, — excepting,  how 
ever,  the  Catholic  "communities"  or  recluse-houses.  Perhaps 
therefore,  the  religious  element  of  hjiman  nature,  may  develop 
such  Corporations,  especially  when  at  work  in  recluse  association. 
Either  the  churches  themselves  might  ultimately  receive  again, 
as  in  former  ages,  a  restored  power  over  their  own  members ;  or, 
if  it  be  necessary  to  retain  perpetually  the  distinction  between 
the  religious  and  secular  powers,  the  churches  might  give  rise  to 
other  Corporations  which  would  exercise  such  functions, — -just 
as  they  have  given  rise  to  their  respective  Bible,  Tract,  Mission, 
Hospital,  and  Poor,  Societies.  It  is  also  possible,  that  the  Tem 
perance,  Masonic  and  other  such  Societies,  might  produce  such 
Corporations  for  political  purposes. 


SUB-DIVISION    III. 

CORPORATIONS    WITH    INHERENT    POLITICAL 
FUNCTIONS. 

CHAP.  I.    NATURE   OF   THIS   SUB-DIVISION. 

§  1 .  Justification  of  the  Speculative,  and  the  Abstract. 
Many  of  the  ideas  of  this  division,  especially  of  the  first  parts 
of  it,  are  very  abstract;  and  AS  YET,  our  direct  interest  in  it 
may  arise  chiefly  from  the  true  love  of  theory  or  scientific  spec 
ulation.  In  this  division  we  have  found  but  little  aid  from 
books,  and  but  little  encouragement,  other  than  the  love  of  the 
study,  and  the  necessity  of  this  Sub-Division,  to  complete  a  har 
monious  view  of  the  whole  subject, — together  with  moral  faith 
in  the  necessity  of  some  higher  Corporations  than  now  exist; 
and  in  the  ultimate  usefulness  of  speculative  reasoning,  to  lead 
to  them.  The  love  of  intellectual  and  systematic  beauty,  is  just 
as  entrancing  to  scientific  theorists,  as  music  is,  to  its  amateurs 
and  devotees  ;  but  with  the  additional  consciousness,  that  the 
scientific  beauty  LEADS  CERTAINLY  TO  HIGHER  TRUTHS. 


POLITICAL    CORP.     INHERENT   FUNCTIONS.    NATURE   OF.       493 

For  thus  adhering  to  the  speculative,  rather  than  the  imme-. 
diately  practical  enjoyments  and  uses ;  and,  to  the  abstract  con 
ceptions,  rather  than  to  the  concrete  organizations, — we  appeal 
for  further  justification,  to  Comte,  (Pos.  Phil.,  p.  810-812.)  Of 
the  division  "  between  speculation  and  practice,"  he  says : — "  In 
all  the  six  provinces  of  knowledge,  we  find  the  first  condition  of 
mental  progress,  to  be,  the  INDEPENDENCE  of  theory ;  as  no  con 
ceptions  could  have  been  formed,  if  the  theoretical  point  of  view 
had  been  inseparable  from  the  practical.  We  see,  too,  how  both 
must  have  entire  FREEDOM, — the  theoretical  spirit,  to  retire  into 
its  condition  of  analytical  abstraction ;  and  the  practical,  to  oc 
cupy  itself  with  specialities.  If  either  repressed  the  other,  the 
consequences  would  be  fatal  to  progress.  A  priori  considera 
tions  are  very  efficacious,  if  wisely  instituted  and  conducted ;  but 
the  first  condition  of  their  utility,  is,  that  when  applied,  *  *  * 
they  should  be  applied  by  the  practical  spirit,  in  each  concrete 
case." 

"  The  division  between  the  two  kinds  of  contemplation, — the 
scientific  and  the  aesthetic, — is  much  less  disputed,  (though  it  is 
less  marked) —  *  *  *  through  the  fundamental  relation  which 
connects  the  sense  of  the  beautiful,  with  the  knowledge  of  the 
true :  *  *  *  Art  affording  to  Science,  in  return  for  a  secure  basis, 
not  only  intellectual  solace  and  moral  stimulus,  but  much  reactive 
aid  in  perfecting  its  philosophical  character." 

"A  more  modern,  but  wholly  indispensable  division,  remains 
to  be  noticed ;  that  between  abstract  and  concrete  science.  *  *  * 
Scientific  progress  has  been  guided  by  it  for  two  centuries  past ; 
for,  as  we  have  seen  throughout,  concrete  science,  or  natural 
history  properly  so  called,  could  not  be  even  undertaken,  till 
abstract  science  was  instituted,  in  regard  to  all  the  orders  of  ele 
mentary  phenomena  concerned  ;  every  concrete  inquiry  involved 
the  combination  of  the  two ;  *  *  *  and  it  is  therefore  not  sur 
prising,  that  the  great  scientific  speculations  between  Bacon's 
time  and  ours,  have  been  of  an  abstract  character, — the  concrete 
speculations  during  the  same  interval,  having  been  necessarily 
impotent.  *  *  *  The  simplest,  most  general,  and  highest  point 
of  view,  attainable  by  the  philosophical  spirit,  has  been  reached 
by  a  gradual  process  of  abstraction ;  discarding,  first,  practical 
requirements,  then  aesthetic  impressions,  and  finally,  concrete 


404  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.    III.  III.  I. 

conditions.  In  the  simplest  cases,  even  those  of  astronomical 
phenomena,  we  have  seen  that  no  general  law  could  be  estab 
lished^  while  bodies  were  considered  in  their  collective  concrete 
existence; — from  which  it  was  necessary  to  detach  a  leading 
phenomenon,  and  then  to  subject  IT  to  abstract  examination, 
*  leaving  all  apparent  anomalies  to  be  reduced  to  principle 
afterward.  *  *  *  The  maintenance  of  the  division  is  necessary 
here,  for  the  same  reasons  as  in  regard  to  the  two  others,  under 
the  penalty  of  laps-e  into  *  *  *  confused  views  and  desultory 
speculations :  *  *  *  and  if  this  seems  to  remove  the  theoretical 
view  too  far  from  the  practical,  there  will  be  a  compensation,  in 
a  superior  generality,  testifying  to  the  necessity  of  the  political 
and  philosophical  separation,  *  *  *  as  the  basis  of  modern  reor 
ganization."  "  These/'  (namely,  Speculative,  Scientifico -aesthetic, 
and  Theoretical,)  "  are  the  three  stages  of  successive  abstraction, 
the  combination  of  which,  determines  the  gradual  institution  of 
the  positive  method ; — in  a  spontaneous  manner  at  first,  and 
afterward  systematically.  *  *  *  The  method  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than,  a  philosophical  extension  of  popular  wisdom  to  abstract 
speculation."  This  latter  thought  and  explanation  of  science, 
has  been  adopted  also  by  Spencer,  and  elevated  into  a  high  posi 
tion  by  him. 

Here  I  may  mention  a  singular  coincidence  between  my  three 
divisions  of  Political  Corporations,  and  the  foregoing  divisions 
of  Comte's.  We  (the  writer)  had  already  divided  the  remaining 
part  of  this  article,  as  it  now  stands ;  and  afterward  (as  is  our 
usual  course)  sought  authorities  and  quotations  in  other  writers, 
for  miscellaneous  supports;  and  in  that  seeking,  we  made  the 
foregoing  extracts  from  Comte.  And,  wrhen  we  came  to  search 
for  the  best  place  wherein  to  locate  them,  and  not  till  then,  we 
observed  the  coincidence,  namely; — our  First  Main  Division 
of  Political  Corporations  is  derived  directly  from  the  Practical, 
by  the  Speculative  interest;  the  Second  Main  Division  was  pur 
sued  for  the  sake  of  the  Scientifico-resthetic  enjoyment,  and  also 
for  the  scientific  necessity  for  it,  to  complete  the  subject  artist 
ically;  and  the  Third  Main  Division  is  pre-eminently  abstract, 
and  is  our  main  THEORY  ;  and  might  properly  be  called  THE 
THEORY  OF  A  NATION  OF  CORPORATIONS  ;  which,  indeed,  was 
the  heading  we  formerly  gave  to  it. 


POLITICAL   CORP.     INHERENT    FUNCTIONS.     NATURE   OF.       4Q5 

§  2.  Relation  to  the  Other  Elements  or  Parts. 

This  kind  of  Corporations,  as  possessing  inherent  political 
functions,  and  based  upon  ideas,  includes  all  the  kinds  treated 
of  in  the  foregoing  Division,  as  only  special  cases  under  it, — or 
at  least  it  would  do  so,  as  soon  as  it  was  legally  acknowledged. 
Because  it  is  conceivable,  that  either  of  the  foregoing  special 
functions, — namely,  Treatment  of  Criminals,  Political  actions, 
Collection  of  Taxes,  Police,  Civil-Executive,  Judicial,  Legis 
lative,  or  General  administrative — might  at  times  become  the 
special  object,  the  accomplishment  of  one  or  another  IDEA  of 
which,  might  be  adopted  by  some  Corporations  as  their  basis 
of  organization.  Hence,  the  investigation  of  these  Corporations 
based  on  ideas,  is  an  investigation  of  general  formulas,  contain 
ing  all  the  others  incidentally,  and  without  requiring  any  further 
special  allusion  to  them.  A  partial  exception  to  this,  is  the  last 
one  of  the  former  Division,  namely,  that  for  General  Political 
Functions.  That  is  the  connecting  link  between  the  Lower  and 
the  Higher  order  of  Political  Corporations,  and  could,  without 
much  violence,  be  placed  in  either. 

This  Division,  namely,  Corporations  for  General  Political 
purposes  based  upon  ideas,  differs  from  the  Political  Clubs 
treated  some  pages  above,  partly  in  this,  that  the  clubs  are  in 
cluded  under  this  latter,  it  being  by  two  grades  the  more  general 
head;  and  partly  this,  that  the  ones  we  are  now  about  to  con 
sider,  would  require  a  pretty  thorough  reorganization  of  society; 
but  the  clubs  as  before  proposed,  are  only  a  variation  in  the 
method  of  choosing  representatives  to  the  usual  political  nom 
inating  and  legislative  bodies.  And  moreover,  the  present 
Division  points  out  a  multiplicity  of  new  organs,  for  performing 
the  new  functions,  which  organs,  the  progress  of  Mankind  is 
continually  calling  upon  society  to  put  forth.  But  this  Division 
resembles  the  political  clubs  in  one  thing,  namely,  that  one  prin 
ciple  of  its  institution  is,  to  allow  to  all  persons,  perfect  freedom 
in  ttyeir  Individual-relations  thereunto;  namely,  for  instance,, 
to  allow  to  all  persons  the  same  freedom  in  choosing  and  in 
changing  their  political  government,  according  to  their  own 
views,  that  they  now  have,  of  changing  their  church,  their  party, 
or  other  corporate  relations ;  excepting,  of  course,  that  considera 
ble  time  and  notice  might  bo  required,  before  changing  from  one 


406  BK-  IV-     CORPORATION.     III.  III.  I. 

such  political  Corporation  to  another;  and  that  the  fulfillment  of 
past  obligations  should  be  required. 

§  3.   General  Statement  of  the  Theory. 

This  whole  Division,  of  Corporations  possessing  or  entitled  to 
inherent  governmental  or  political  functions,  is  based  upon  the 
principle  of  ideas,  namely,  that  Individuals  might  form  and 
select  their  Corporations,  according  to  one  or  more  particular 
political  ideas  MOST  approved  by  them,  and  make  such  ideas 
the  basis  of  the  structure. 

As  is  mentioned  below,  it  would  be  theoretically  possible,  for 
governments  to  organize  by  Corporations,  almost  to  the  exclu 
sion  of  local  divisions,  su  that  the  local  divisions  of  a  govern 
ment  (whether  Precinct  or  Nation)  might  almost  be  replaced,  by 
divisions  of  organizations  based  upon  different  degrees  of  gener 
ality  in  the  scale  of  sociological  ideas.  And  then,  from  this 
condition  of  things  it  results,  that  such  Corporations,  as  a  whole, 
might  displace  distinct  Precinct  and  National  civil  governments, 
and  the  congress  of  their  national  union  might  become  the 
Unit,  identical  with  Nation  :  although,  such  extended  application 
is  not  necessary  to  the  principle  itself.  And  out  of  these,  again, 
it  is  conceivable  as  possible,  that  international  societies  might  grow 
up,  that  would  leave  almost  as  little  for  Confederations  to  do,  as 
the  former  arrangements  had  left  to  the  Nations;  and  as  little, 
also,  for  the  local  government  of  an  empire  of  the  whole  earth, 
if  any  such  should  ever  be  formed. 

Such  a  transformation  of  the  government  of  a  Nation  or  Pre 
cinct,  from  a  congeries  of  local  centres,  to  that  of  a  system  of 
Corporations,  founded  on  voluntary  and  spontaneous  selection, 
would  be  a  change  as  great  in  the  social  world,  as  the  spiritual 
Regeneration  is  in  the  Individual-world.  And  if  there  could 
be  added  an  equal  transformation  of  all  the  national  govern 
ments  of  Mankind,  into  Corporations,  the  change  would  be 
almost  as  great  socially,  as  the  Resurrection  is  to  be,  individ 
ually.  This  is  suggested  merely  for  the  sake  of  illustrating  the 
abstractness  and  generality  of  the  principle.  Because  every 
degree  of  the  Corporation-system,  rightly  introduced,  would  pro 
duce  its  proportional  amount  of  wonderful  transformations. 

Some  of  us  are  looking  and  hoping  for  a  return  of  the  days, 
when  all  the  residents  of  a  Locality  would  again  be  of  ONE 


POLITICAL   CORP.     INHERENT   FUNCTIONS.     NATURE   OF.      4Q7 

church :  but  instead  thereof,  or  before  that  comes,  we  may  look 
and  hope  for  the  time  when  the  civil  organizations  will  follow 
the  example  of  the  churches, — re-form  themselves  spontaneously; 
and  all  men  voluntarily  choose  their  governmental  Corporations, 
as  they  now  choose  their  churches. 

We  suppose  then,  the  possibility,  that  (for  most  purposes), 
government  might  prescribe  a  certain  SMALL  NUMBER  OF  KINDS 
of  associations,  and  require  every  man  to  join  one  of  every 
kind;  yet  allowing  in  each  class  a  no-government  association, 
for  dissenters  of  that  class;  also  allowing  the  females,  either 
altogether,  or,  of  every  class,  when  in  sufficient  proportions, — 
to  form  separate  Corporations.  And  the  representatives  of  the 
whole  Locality,  Nation,  or  Precinct,  of  each  association,  on  each 
subject,  should  or  might  be  the  legislature  to  decide  questions, 
and  enact  laws,  on  that  subject,  (in  accordance  of  course  with  a 
suitable  constitution). 

The  representatives  of  any  lower  division,  in  coming  into 
a  higher  or  more  general  one;  might,  in  some  cases,  have  to 
rearrange  themselves  ;  so  that  when,  in  some  districts,  the  sub 
division  of  any  one  class,  had  been  multiplied  beyond  that  pro 
vided  for  in  the  higher  division ;  two  or  more  such  sub-divisions 
would  have  to  unite  into  one.  And  on  the  contrary,  the  repre 
sentatives  from  a  lower  division,  coming  into  a  higher,  might 
sometimes  be  entitled  to  sub-divide,  in  order  to  meet  a  greater 
multiplicity  already  established  in  the  superior  order, — although, 
in  this  case,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  part  of  duty  and  wisdom, 
for  the  lower  division  to  know  and  foresee  this  result, — and 
therefore  itself  choose  its  representatives  in  or  for  the  proper 
sub-divisions. 

§  4.  Classifications. 

This  sub-division  of  Corporations,  presents  two  entirely  differ 
ent  kinds,  or  sub-sub-divisions.  The  first  one  of  such  kinds  would 
exist,  by  establishing  in  every  Locality  a  separate  Corporation, 
based  upon,  and  to  take  cognizance  of,  every  SINGLE  different 
important  idea,  object,  or  civil  relation,  coming  under  the  regu 
lation  of  civil  law.  The  conception  of  this  kind  is  necessary, 
because  the  instincts  of  personal  association  and  of  civil  govern 
ment,  give  rise  to  local  divisions,  which  are  a  sort  of  Corpora 
tions  for  local  purposes;  just  so,  the  love  of  ideas  impels,  so 


408  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  I. 

that  every  important  idea  of  human  beings,  can,  as  has  been 
said,  be  taken  up  by  Corporations,  and  then  the  Corporations 
could  arrange  themselves  according  to  their  views  of  that  idea. 
These  we  call  Corporations  based  on  Single  Ideas. 

The  other  kind,  or  sub-sub-divmon,  would  exist  by  establish 
ing  in  each  Locality,  only  a  few  Corporations ;  each  one  of  which 
should  be  based  upon  some  popular  or  natural  COMBINATION 
of  ideas ;  and  should  take  cognizance  of  all,  or  nearly  all  affairs, 
usually  or  properly  coming  under  civil  law,  relating  to  those 
ideas. 

We  will  take  up  the  first  kind,  first,  after  finishing  these 
classifications ;  and  leave  the  second  kind  to  occupy  us  most  of 
the  remainder  of  the  time. 

We  might,  to  be  sure,  present  other  divisions,  some  of  them 
intermediate  between  these  two.  One  intermediate  division  is 
conceivable,  which  being  based  on  single  ideas,  would  yet  take 
cognizance  of  all  affairs.  But  this  would  evidently  be  a  stretch 
ing  of  the  applications,  indefinitely  beyond  the  principle  in 
volved,  or  the  basis  built  upon.  Another  intermediate  division 
is  also  conceivable,  which,  being  based  upon  a  combination  of 
ideas,  would  have  cognizance  only  of  the  affairs  of  the  several 
ideas  upon  which  it  was  based.  But  this  division  scarcely  needs 
a  separate  treatment,  as  it  would  not  differ  from  the  First  one 
mentioned,  and  to  be  treated ;  except  in  merely  ascertaining  the 
combinations  of  ideas  that  would  probably  be  popular.  More 
over,  the  agreement  of  men  in  a  combination  of  most  important 
political  ideas,  is  something  more  than  a  factj  it  is  a  strong 
presumptive  proof  of  general  agreement  in  political  affairs, 
sufficient  to  constitute  them  into  a  harmonious  body-politic. 
Both  the  foregoing  intermediates  are  therefore  omitted  from 
any  special  treatment  in  our  general  investigations.  But  their 
principles  are  treated  in  the  sub-divisions  given. 

Again,  we  may  suppose  two  different  systems  of  Corporations 
on  ideas  : — in  one  system,  every  Individual  would  be  a  member 
of  only  one  Corporation  : — in  the  other  system,  every  Individual 
would  be  a  member  of  several. 

Again,  whether  the  system  adopted  be,  for  each  person  to  be 
a  member  of  many  Corporations,  or,  of  only  one, — in  either 
case,  there  are  two  principles  of  organization : — by  orie  princi- 


POLITICAL   CORP.     INHERENT    FUNCTIONS.     NATURE   OF.       4Q9 

pie,  government  would  prescribe  the  variety  of  choices,  namely, 
of  single  ideas  in  the  one  case,  or  of  the  combination  of  ideas 
in  the  other  case  : — by  the  other  principle,  Individuals  would  be 
left  free  to  select  for  themselves,  the  variety  of  choices. 

Again,  organizations  on  ideas,  whether  of  the  first  sub-sub 
division,  or  of  the  second ;  and  of  whatever  kind  or  system ; 
could  arrange  themselves  in  their  relation  to  Locality,  or  could 
generalize  themselves,  in  either  of  two  ways.  In  one  way,  all 
the  Corporations  in  a  given  Locality,  whether  Precinct  or  Na 
tion,  might  co-operate  in  a  government  for  the  Locality.  In  the 
other  way,  all  the  Corporations  of  one  ideal,  or  on  one  basis,  in 
many  Localities,  might  unite  in  a  system  of  gradations,  such  as 
is  common  in  various  societies ;  and  then  the  union  of  the  highest 
ones  of  these  special  Corporate  organizations,  might  constitute 
the  local  government  for  the  whole. 

These  two  ways  of  organization  give  another  division,  namely, 
into  two  kinds  of  Corporations,  according  to  their  ways  of  organ 
ization.  Both  kinds  may  be  conceived  of,  as  having  the  same 
general  relation  to  one  another,  as  Social  Circle,  Precinct  and 
Nation  have,  to  each  other;  understanding  these  relations  as  not 
based  chiefly  on  ties  of  locality  or  geography,  but,  on  principles 
or  ideas: — so  that  the  more  general  the  -Corporation,  the  less 
special  its  ideas. 

But  whichever  way,  or  whichever  of  the  two  kinds  of  organ 
ization,  we  may  take  first,  to  rise  in  the  generality,  the  top  organ 
ization  reached  at  last,  is  precisely  the  same  in  either  case,  namely, 
the  civil  or  political  organization  of  any  Precinct  or  Nation,  or 
of  Mankind,  in  such  a  way,  that  the  Land's  or  Earth's  local  or 
natural  supreme  civil  power,  and  the  supreme  Corporation, — 
would  be  identical.  And  the  same  is  true  also,  of  either  of  the 
divisions  we  have  named  above. 

This  unity  of  the  last  result  in  highest  generalization,  may  be 
seen,  by  adopting  a  general  formula,  whereby  to  express  both 
those  divisions,  and  both  these  kinds  of  organizations  at  once ; 
as  follows.  Both  divisions  and  both  kinds,  are  those  which 
make  up  a  government,  by  bringing  into  combination,  in  any 
one  Locality,  (ranging  from  Precinct  to  Mankind),  all  the 
various  political  Corporations  in  it,  of  the  same  class  or  kind. 
Here,  is  a  combination  of  Corporations,  in  and  for  the  govern- 


410  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  I. 

ment  of  a  Locality, — the  generalization  and  combination  of 
Corporations  carried  so  high,  that  nothing  remains  that  is  more 
general,  or  that  could  include  them.  Thus,  they  become  the 
political  administration  itself,  of  their  LOCALITY,  whether  Pre 
cinct,  Nation,  Other  Corporation,  or  Mankind. 

§  5.  Methods  of  Political  Expression. 

From  the  great  variety  of  methods,  which  the  varied  combi 
nations  of  the  foregoing*  might  produce ;  perhaps  the  following 
four  are  the  principal  ones,  by  which  Corporations  might  be 
allowed  political  expression. 

One  method  would  be,  to  allow  every  Corporation  of  what 
ever  kind,  to  have,  in  some  new  or  special  department  of  gov 
ernment, — a  voting  power  in  proportion  to  its  membership,  or  in 
some  other  uniform  proportion  prescribed  by  government.  By 
this  method,  a  man  would  have  more  or  less  power,  according  as 
he  belonged  to  more  or  fewer  Corporations.  And  IDEAS  AND 
OBJECTS,  would  have  more  or  less  preponderance  in  the  govern 
ment,  according  as  they  were  embodied  in  more  or  fewer  Corpo 
rations.  Then  the  science  of  such  a  Society  or  Nation,  would 
be,  so  to  arrange  the  number  and  proportion  of  these  different 
objects,  and  of  the  associations  based  on  them,  that  the  resultant 
would  produce  the  most  fair  and  equable  constitution. 

A  second  method  would  be,  for  government  to  prescribe  a  few 
convenient  kinds  of  Corporations,  such  that  every  man  would  or 
might  belong  to  one  of  every  such  kind.  This  would  directly 
equalize  the  political  power  of  Individuals  therein,  because  all 
persons  would  be  represented  in  an  equal  number  of  ways. 

A  third  method  would  be,  for  government  to  prescribe  some 
one  particular  kind  of  Corporations,  of  such  a  kind  that  ordi 
narily  no  man  would  be  apt  to  belong  to  more  than  one  of  that 
kind ;  for  instance,  as  the  faculty  of  a  college,  &c. 

The  churches  would  make  the  best  Corporations  of  this  kind, 
IP  they  would  abstain  from  efforts  to  control  each  OTHER,  or 
to  get  a  preference,  one  over  another.  Political  clubs,  such  as 
were  established  in  France  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  might 
answer,  if  of  a  kind,  of  which  it  is  not  likely  a  man  would 
be  a  member  of  more  than  one.  And  as  there  might  be  some 
persons  who  would  have  refused  to  be  enrolled  in  any  of  these 
prescribed  Corporations ;  all  such  persons  should  be  enrolled  as 


POLITICAL   CORP.    INHERENT.     OX   SINGLE   IDEAS.          41] 

members  of  the  one  non-government  Corporation,  which  there 
fore  should  be  allowed  its  share  of  political  power  also,  in  some 
manner  afterwards  to  be  determined. 

A  Fourth  method  would  be,  for  government  to  allow  every 
man  to  select  and  designate  what  Corporation  he  desired  to  be 
enrolled  in,  as  THE  ONE  in  which,  if  accepted  by  it,  he  desired 
to  exercise  his  amount  of  the  political  influence  of  the  corporate 
kind.  For  instance,  one  man  might,  for  this  purpose,  desire  to 
be  enumerated  in  the  church,  another  might  prefer  to  be  enu 
merated  in  some  college,  and  another,  in  some  moral  or  benefi 
cent  society.  This  plan  seems  to  be  the  fairest,  if  men  could  be 
prevented  from  fraudulently  having  themselves  enrolled  in  more 
than  one  Corporation  for  such  purposes,  (or  in  more  than  other 
men  were  enrolled  in  for  such  purposes ;  because,  it  might  be 
best  to  allow  all  men  to  choose  two  or  more  such  Corporations). 

The  class  of  Corporations  to  which  these  complicated  ques 
tions  relate,  we  make  a  second  sub-sub-division  of; — namely, 
those  Based  on  a  Few  Chief  Combinations  of  Ideas. 

CHAP.  II.    FIRST  SUB-SUB-DIVISION : — CORPORATIONS  BASED  ON 
SINGLE  OR  SEPARATE  IDEAS. 

§  1.  Specimens  of  the  Ideas. 

The  more  special  and  concrete  the  idea  is,  upon  which  each 
Corporation  bases  itself,  the  more  numerous  must  the  Corpora 
tions  become,  in  order  to  include  the  whole  range  of  important 
human  ideas.  Of  course,  therefore,  we  can  only  give  a  few 
specimens.  Let  us  then  particularize,  by  adducing,  merely  as 
instances,  some  special  ideas  that  might  probably  be  made  the 
bases. 

One  basis  for  each  Individual  to  select  his  or  her  Corporation 
by,  ought  to  be  the  particular  shade  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of 
war  or  fighting, — a  voluntary  Corporation  for  persons  of  each 
shade  of  opinion,  from  the  absolute  non-resistants,  to  the  lovers 
and  worshipers  of  force,  violence  and  riot. 

Another  basis  or  principle  on  which  each  Individual  could 
select  his  or  her  own  Corporation,  might  be,  its  laws  and 
sanctions  of  the  Family  constitution,  including  marriage  and 
divorce : — the  Corporation,  to  administer  said  laws,  and  to  guar 
antee  the  maintenance  of  the  Families  needing  help,  if  any. 


412  BK.  IV.      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  II. 

Perhaps  such  Corporations  would  be  better  than  churches,  as  the 
bases,  when  these  churches  were  without  any  special  Family- 
idea  as  one  o/  their  doctrines.  They  can  be  conceived  of  as 
providing  for  all  shades  of  opinions,  from  no  divorce  whatever, 
down  to  divorce  for  almost  any  cause, — a  voluntary  Corporation 
on  each  idea. 

Probably  the  most  suitable  basis  for  women,  and  the  one  most 
likely  to  be  adopted  by  them,  for  their  Corporations,  if  they 
were  to  vote,  would  be  some  certain  or  uncertain  ideas  of  the 
Family-constitution,  in  its  relation  to  property;  but  of  their 
future  action,  perhaps  men  can  only  "guess"  ! 
,  In  short,  all  the  prominent  social  and  political  ideas,  might  be 
adopted,  by  different  persons,  as  the  bases  of  their  political  or 
ganizations  ;  perhaps  as  many  as  1296,  as  will  presently  be  shown. 

The  usual  basis  for  virtual  societary  Corporations  now,  all  the 
world  over,  is  social  position;  making  virtual  Corporations  of 
Social  Circles.  Yet  there  are  but  few  men  who  regard  this  ele 
ment  as  so  preponderating,  as  to  require  its  enumeration  among 
the  one-idea  bases,  such  as  we  are  just  now  considering.  But  it 
comes  up  as  a  natural  sub-division,  into  perhaps  three  kinds 
(among  the  occupations),  as  presently  to  be  mentioned.  But 
women  would  be  apt  to  introduce  Social  Circles  into  greater 
prominence  (as  divisions)  than  men  would. 

§  2.  Assumption  of  Fixed  Localities. 

To  investigate  in  a  thorough  and  abstract  way,  the  great  mul 
tiplicity  of  possible  Corporations  based  upon  ideas,  would  require 
a  Calculus  almost  equal  to  W.  R.  Hamilton's  "  Quaternions." 
Therefore,  we  must  get  more  into  the  concrete,  even  in  this 
very  general  division.  At  any  rate,  we  must  assume  the  LOCAL 
ITIES  to  be  fixed  or  given,  so  as  to  bring  the  calculation  into 
homogeneity  with  our  two  elements  of  Precinct  and  Nation. 
Otherwise,  we  should  have  to  express  the  theory  in  the  sixth 
power,  namely,  in  terms  general  enough  to  include  all  the  Six 
Units ;  and  even  indefinitely  higher,  because  Corporation,  un 
like  Mankind,  does  not  consist  of  any  given  number  of  funda 
mental  social  elements,  but  is  susceptible  of  any  required  number. 
Whereas,  the  two  just  named,  are  enough  for  us,  and  the  branch 
of  Quadratics,  or  second  power,  is  about  as  high  as  it  is  useful 
for  us  freshmen  and  tyros  in  social  science,  to  go  on  with. 


POLITICAL   CORP.     INHERENT.     ON   SINGLE   IDEAS.          413 

Therefore,  to  make  the  calculation  practicable ;  we  suppose 
that  the  various  Corporations,  in  forming  themselves  into  organ 
izations  of  rising  degrees  of  generality,  rise  in  order  of  supe 
riority,  collaterally  or  correspondingly  Avith  the  local  divisions. 
For  instance,  we  have  every  particular  trade  or  craft,  forming 
itself  into  a  Corporation  for  its  craft  purposes.  Then,  we  have 
the  Corporations  of  the  different  crafts,  forming  into  "  unions/' 
to  help  each  other,  and  thus  spontaneously  repeating  the  princi 
ples  operating  in  the  formation  of  the  American  Union  of  States. 
Just  as  the  various  Temperance  and  Free  Mason  societies,  and 
the  churches,  in  fact,  generally  do.  Here  then  we  arrive  at 
some  solid  ground.  Our  Six  Fundamental  Units  appear  rising 
up  out  of  chaos. 

Hitherto  our  article  on  Corporations,  has  been  rising  in  ab 
straction  and  generality,  higher  and  higher,  like  a  balloon ;  but 
here  it  enters  its  descending  node,  and  commences  to  diminish 
its  exponents  in  the  series,  and  becomes  more  and  more  special, 
concrete,  and  practical. 

§  3.  Statement ;  with  Fixed  Localities. 

Thus  it  is  conceivable,  that  by  any  of  the  foregoing  methods, 
based  upon  single  ideas,  a  whole  Nation  might  gradually  come 
to  arrange  itself  fully  into  civil  Corporations,  correlative  with 
all  the  Localities;  so  that  every  citizen  and  every  Family,  would 
be  members  of  some  kind  or  class  of  Corporation,  and  so  that  one 
person  could  be  a  member  of  only  one,  or  some  given  number, 
of  such, — -just  as  he  now  can  be  a  citizen  of  only  one  Nation, 
State,  District,  or  Precinct;  and  yet  every  person  select  his  or 
her  own  Corporations,  by  means  of  the  multitude  of  different 
kinds  existing  everywhere. 

In  case  it  was  deemed  best  to  keep  the  Local  and  the  Corpo 
rate  governments  distinct,  even  in  the  highest  generalization, — 
the  constitution  of  any  Locality,  whether  Precinct  or  Nation, 
might  perhaps  be  subject  to  the  revision  of  the  joint  ballot,  of 
all  the  representatives  chosen  by  all  these  associations,  or  of  del 
egates  selected,  in  their  due  proportions,  from  all,  (representing 
minorities  fairly,  of  course.) 

It  is  even  conceivable,  that  the  variety  of  Corporations  might 
be  so  great,  that  each  Individual  would  only  need  to  be  a  mem 
ber  of  one.  But,  although  it  is  possible  to  conceive  of  such  sys- 


414  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  III. 

terns  of  Corporations,  yet  they  are  at  present  impracticable ;  for, 
the  differences  of  human  opinions,  feelings,  prejudices,  interests 
and  so  on,  are  too  great  to  allow  of  the  generality  of  Individuals 
finding  the  satisfaction  of  all  their  earnest,  political  hopes  and 
ideas,  in  any  one,  or  even  in  a  few  organizations,  based  on  single 
ideas,  without  multiplying  the  organizations  in  every  location, 
almost  indefinitely.  Hence  it  becomes  necessary  to  enter,  in  a 
subsequent  division,  into  some  complicated  calculations  for  a 
reasonable  and  satisfactory,  yet  ATTAINABLE  variety,  of  Corpo 
rations,  for  each  Individual  to  select  from. 

CHAP.  III.    SECOND  SUB-STJB-DIVISION  : — CORPORATIONS  BASED 
ON   A   FEW   CHIEF   COMBINATIONS   OF   IDEAS. 

§  1.  Nature  of  this  Sub-Sub-Division. 

All  that  has  gone  before,  in  this  whole  article  on  Corpora 
tion,  is  to  be  considered  as  partly  introductory  to  this  which  we 
are  now  commencing  to  treat.  This  is  so  with  the  First  and 
Second  Main  Divisions ;  also  with  the  First  and  Second  Sub- 
Divisions  of  this  Third  Main  Division ;  also  with  the  first  Sub- 
Sub-Division  of  this  Second  Sub-Division.  The  pith  of  the 
matter,  and  the  greatest  and  highest  practical  object  regarding 
Corporations,  in  Social  Science,  for  this  and  the  next  age, — is  to 
consider  investigate  and  find,  a  few  principal  combinations  of 
ideas,  that  will  answer  as  the  bases  for  voluntary  governmental 
organizations ;  and,  to  consider,  how  best  to  enable  them  to  per 
form  their  various  functions. 

This  Sub-Sub-Division,  we  formerly  headed,  "Theory  of  a 
Nation  of  Corporations."  But  subsequently  we  found  it  neces 
sary  to  change  the  heading,  in  order  to  show  the  connection  with 
the  former  class, — namely,  those  based  upon  single  or  isolated 
ideas.  One  of  the  most  general  of  all  political  speculations,  now 
tones  down  into  a  practicable  theory,  accompanied  with  due  at 
tention  and  regard  to  all  the  possible  needs,  wants,  and  actions, 
of  Mankind. 

In  the  former  Sub-Divisions,  we  came  down  from  the  exceed 
ingly  general  conception,  of  all  possible  Corporations  erected  on 
ideas,  to  the  variety  of  possible  ones,  corresponding  with  Units 
of  Locality.  Just  so  again,  we  come  down  now,  from  these 
latter,  to  only  a  small  and  definite  number ;  although  we  do  not 


POLITICAL   CORP.    INHERENT.     ON   COMBINED   IDEAS.      415 

propose  to  determine  absolutely,  what  that  definite  number  shall 
be ;  nor  exactly,  their  bases,  but  only  illustrations  thereof. 

Some  considerable  multiplicity  of  Corporations  is  required, 
and  made  practicable,  by  the  increasing  number  and  density  of 
human  population :  And  the  multiplicity  must  continue  to  in 
crease,  with  the  increase  of  population.  Hence,  their  ultimate 
number  and  sub-divisions  cannot  possibly  be  given  at  present. 

It  is  certain  however,  that,  practically,  the  number  of  Corpo 
rations  would  be  regulated  spontaneously,  like  the  number  of 
parties,  and  would  not  grow  beyond  easy  ability  to  calculate  and 
provide  for.  A  similar,  although  not  so  great  multiplicity  is 
conceivable,  as  to  the  number  of  denominational  churches,  or 
schools,  that  might  be  needed  in  every  Locality ;  but  practi 
cally,  nature,  left  to  itself,  might  succeed  as  well  in  selecting  the 
variety  of  political  Corporations,  as  it  has,  the  ecclesiastical. 
§  2.  Probable  Bases  or  Kinds  of  Classes :  namely,  Occupations, 
Moralities,  and  Polities. 

(a)  In  General.  Passing  on,  then,  to  the  probable  special 
bases,  we  can  only  give  a  statement  of  the  multiplicity,  suffi 
cient  to  give  an  illustration  of  the  idea, — a  multiplicity  that 
would  now  be  practicable  in  the  cities  or  thickly  populated 
rural  districts. 

PERHAPS  THREE  DOZEN  DIFFERENT  CORPORATIONS  BASED 
ON  OCCUPATION,  HALF  A  DOZEN  EACH,  ON  MORALITY,  AND 
POLITICAL  FORMS,  would  be  an  ample  number  to  afford  every 
reasonable  variety  of  choice.  These  added  together  would  give 
a  maximum  number  of  48.  Yet  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
there  would,  or  must  be,  that  large  number  in  any  one  Locality. 

Because,  if  you  multiply  together,  for  instance,  all  the  differ 
ences  of  religious  opinions,  that  have  been  prominent  in  church 
divisions,  you  would  make  a  possibility  of  several  hundreds ; 
whereas  practically,  even  in  the  largest  cities,  there  do  not  exist 
over  about  twenty-five  different  denominations;  and  most  of 
them  have  only  one  or  two  organizations.  And  even  only 
adding  totals,  there  are  perhaps  60  religious  denominations  in 
the  United  States,  but  not  more  than  25  different  kinds,  even  in 
the  two  largest  cities ;  and  as  smaller  cities  are  taken,  the  va 
riety  becomes  less,  always  being  checked  by  the  proprieties  and 
urgencies  of  the  local  circumstances.  Here  the  system  of  Corpo- 


416  BE.  IV.      CORPOKATION.      III.  III.  III. 

rations  based  on  Combinations  of  Ideas  we  are  now  proposing, 
shows  its  almost  indefinitely  greater  practicability,  compared 
with  the  former  sub-division, — that  based  upon  Single  Ideas. 
For,  in  that  division,  these  numbers,  36,  6  and  6,  would  have 
to  be  multiplied,  in  order  to  give  a  Corporation  for  each  idea ; 
and  thereby  1296  separate  Corporations,  would  be  called  for  as 
possible,  and  some  hundreds  therefore  would  be  actually  wanted. 

Let  us  now  inquire  more  minutely,  what  would  probably  be 
the  actual  principles,  and  bases,  and  number,  of  the  classifica 
tions  for  combinations  of  Ideas. 

Sex  is  not  likely  to  become  a  basis  of  the  classifications,  until 
density  of  population  enables  the  classes  to  be  VERY  numerous. 
Then,  when  each  occupation  has  its  own  Corporation,  those  oc 
cupations  which  engage  both  sexes,  would  or  might  naturally 
give  rise  to  the  two  classes  of  Corporations  accordingly. 

Nevertheless,  there  might  be,  and  probably  soon  would  be,  a 
Corporation  of  those  women  who  have  "women's  rights  on  the 
brain ;"  but  it  is  not  likely  to  draw  in,  any  large  proportion  of 
women.  In  other  words,  the  generality  of  women  will  not  be 
apt  to  form  Corporations  for  themselves,  as  such,  but  only  as 
they  are  led  thereto  by  their  avocations,  out  of  the  Family- 
relation. 

We  suppose  then,  that  the  wage-classes,  and  even  all  but  the 
really  wealthy,  being  dependent  on  their  trades  for  MAINTE 
NANCE,  would  naturally  account  their  trade-relations  as  among 
those  of  the  utmost  importance  to  them ;  and  therefore  generally 
would  adopt,  as  their  political  Corporations,  their  various  guilds 
or  trade-unions.  In  general,  one  Corporation  for  each  trade,  in 
its  Locality ;  although  some  very  large  trades  might  form  two 
or  more  in  a  place,  while  some  of  the  smaller  closely  related 
trades,  might  unite  into  one.  In  very  large  cities,  "  the  retail 
men"  of  different  trades  might  be  in  sufficient  numbers,  to  form 
their  Corporations;  and  even  one  or  two  classes  of  capitalists 
also ;  but,  as  a  general  thing,  in  the  present  density  of  popula 
tion,  in  some  places,  the  capitalists  thereof  of  all  the  trades 
together,  would  only  be  numerous  enough  to  make  one  Corpo 
ration,  i.e.,  of  furnishers  of  capital,  whether  little  or  much,  (of 
course,  for  their  own  ends  only.) 

Social  Circle,  it  is  true,  might  itself  be  considered  as  a  combi- 


POLITICAL    CORP.     INHERENT.     ON   COMBINED    IDEAS.       417 

nation/  of  ideas,  suitable  for  another  or  fourth  great  basis.  But 
considered  apart  from  religious  and  moral  associations,  the 
Social  Circle-divisions  might  be  reduced  to  three,  and  come  in 
only  as  sub-divisions  of  occupation, — that  is  to  say,  each  dif 
ferent  occupation  or  class  of  kindred  occupations,  instead  of 
forming  only  one  Corporation,  might  probably  form  into  three 
different  Corporations,  according  to  social-position,  and  position 
in  the  occupation. 

But  even  if  the  Social  Circle  were  made  a  distinct  and  fourth 
combination  of  ideas,  for  a  basis,  then  the  divisions  upon  oc 
cupations  might  be  reduced  to  twelve.  This  would  make 
12  -f  3  -f  6  +  6  =  27,  say  only  27  instead  of  48  kinds ;  whilst 
the  number  based  on  single  ideas,  namely,  the  former,  class, 
would  still  be  the  product  of  those  numbers  multiplied  together, 
and  therefore,  as  before,  be  1296.  Or  if  we  retain  48  combina 
tions,  then  the  36  might  be  resolved  into  factors  in  any  way 
the  reader  pleases,  between  Occupations,  and  Social  Circles, 
without  altering  the  result  in  the  number  of  bases  of  single 
ideas.  Or  the  36  might  be  divided  into  sums,  the  addition  of 
which  would  always  be  36,  thus  retaining  the  same  number 
under  the  plan  of  Combination  of  Ideas. 

Accordingly  the  following  comparisons  will  show  the  advan 
tages  of  the  combination-basis,  over  that  of  single  ideas. 

Combinations.  Single  Ideas. 

2  -j-  34  =  36 2  X  34  =    68 

3  -f  33  =  36  .     .     .     .     .  3  X  33  =    99 
6-f-30  =  36  .     .     .     .     .  6  X  30  =  180 

10-|-26=36    .     .   °.     .     .    10X26  =  260 
18  +  18  —  36 18  X  18  =  324 

Either  to  be  added  to,  or  multiplied  by  12.— Either  48  or  3888. 

And  different  Localities  probably  woulcj  actually  divide  in 
various  proportions,  according  to  their  own  preferences.  But 
the  idea  is,  that  each  person  is  to  be  a  member  of  one  out  of 
each  of  the  three,  four,  or  five,  Combination-Corporations ;  but 
not  of  all  (the  36  or  rather)  48  mentioned. 

But  the  few  combination-divisions  mentioned  above,  although 
they  would  comprise  the  generality  of  persons,  nevertheless  would 
not  be  quite  sufficient  for  ALL.  There  would  be  Individuals 
having  hobbies,  and  prevalent  ideas.  Some  would  have  a  moral 

27 


418  BK.  IV.      CORPORATION.      HI.  III.  III. 

idea,  say  on  religion ;  some  on  peace,  some  on  divorce,  some  on 
temperance,  and  some  on  dress,  or  Sunday,  or  amusements,  or 
other  subject.  Others  again  would  have  some  political  form,  for 
their  hobby  or  prevalent  idea;  some  manner  of  voting,  or 
taxing,  or  administering,  or  constituting,  political  government. 
In  each  case,  we  would  see  Individuals  from  all  or  several  So 
cial  Circles,  and  from  the  foregoing  classes  of  society,  uniting 
together  and  forming  Corporations,  on  one  and  another  of  these 
different  hobbies, — as  its  basis ;  for  hobbies  are  great  in  break 
ing  down  social  distinctions. 

Yet,  these  ideas  could  only  be  the  BASIS  ;  they  could  not  be 
the  sole  business,  of  the  Corporation.  Yet  still,  with  several,  or 
a  reasonable  variety  of,  Corporations,  of  each  of,  say  three  four 
or  five  different  kinds  mentioned,  namely,  of  Trades,  of  Morals, 
and  of  Political  forms,  &c., — it  is  possible  that  every  person 
might  be  sufficiently  accommodated,  by  membership,  in  all  of 
those  few  different  and  really  independent  Corporations,  AT 
ONCE  ;  the  independence  of  which  ,was  such,  that  his  choice  to 
or  in  one,  would  not  materially  affect  his  choice  to  or  in  either 
of  the  others.  These  kinds  taken  together,  might  be  called 
Amalgam  or  Conglomerating  Corporations,  in  allusion  to  our 
Precinct-theory,  wherein  several  taken  together  for  certain  pur 
poses,  are  called  Amalgams  or  Conglomerates.  And  then,  the 
few  particular  ones  selected,  one  from  each  of  these  kinds,  might 
be  called  the  Amalgam  or  Conglomerate  set,  for  the  Individual 
so  selecting.  But  many  persons  would  find  all  their  different 
wants  supplied,  perhaps  in  only  one,  say  their  Business-Corpora 
tion,  which  would  be  plenary  to  them.  In  each  case  of  this 
kind,  a  special  or  plenary  Corporation  had  better  be  formed ; 
otherwise,  the  set  of  the  usual  or  Amalgam  conglomerating  Cor 
porations,  would  suffer  a  political  or  moral  bias,  and  would  exert 
a  seriously  disturbing  influence,  on  those  of  its  members  who 
adhered  to  it  for  its  trade-purposes,  but  whose  moral  or  political 
proclivities  were  in  some  entirely  different  direction  from  that 
of  the  generality  of  persons  in  it.  Besides  the  few  kinds  of 
Amalgam  conglomerating  Corporations,  then,  we  would  have 
the  corresponding  three  to  five  kinds  of  plenary  ones,  thus  pro 
posed. 

(b)    Statement  of  their  Functions.      Now  of  the  (say)  three 


POLITICAL   CORP.     INHERENT.     ON    COMBINED   IDEAS. 

kinds  of  Conglomerating  Corporations,  every  Individual  would 
be  a  member  of  a  set,  consisting  of  one  of  each  kind.  And 
each  of  these  Corporations  would  have  the  entire  function,  of 
enacting  judging  and  executing  laws,  in  relation  to  the  several 
subjects  proper  to  them,  respectively.  Each  business  Corpora 
tion  would  exercise  all  the  legal  functions  over  its  own  members, 
for  all  the  physical  and  material  interests  included  under  the  term 
business.  Each  moral  Corporation  would  exercise  the  legal  func 
tions  over  its  own  members,  in  all  matters  relating  to  morality; 
and  to  all  control  over  property  arising  out  of  the  just  claims  of 
morality,  which  the  membership  had  agreed  to,  whether  arising 
from  Liquor,  or  War,  or  Religion,  or  Divorce,  or  other  of  the 
moral  bases  of  the  society.  The  third  kind  of  Corporation, 
namely,  the  political,  would  have  also  its  own  legitimate  func 
tion  to  perform,  of  providing  for  the  regulation  of  its  own  mem 
bers,  and  to  accomplish  the  special  objects  laid  down  in  its  basis. 
E}ut  it  must  be  remembered,  that  sometimes  a  Corporation  of 
this  kind,  although  based  on  harmony  of  political  views,  is  not 
necessarily  adapted  nor  intended,  for  general  civil  administration 
over  its  own  members,  who  organize  themselves  thus,  but  mainly 
for  some  special  political  purposes*;  yet  on  the  basis  of  general 
harmony  of  political  feeling,  and  upon  the  idea  that  such  har 
mony  is  the  great  basis  of  the  social  organization.  For  such 
persons,  separate  Corporations  for  general  political  government, 
are  needed,  just  as  much  as  by  the  Corporations  based  on  trades, 
or  on  morals :  and  ought  to  advance  to  such  functions,  although 
beginning  only  as  political  clubs. 

And,  on  a  little  further  reflection,  we  see,  that  such  a  "  sepa 
rate"  kind  of  the  political  ones,  is  the  only  kind  the  Political 
basis  easily  admits  of;  because  the  idea  of  a  society  establishing 
itself  on  the  basis  of  political  forms  over  its  own  members,  im 
plies,  that  there  must  be  some  other  and  objective  ideas  and  meas 
ures,  in  relation  to  which  its  political  forms  are  established,  and 
are  to  be  applied.  If  it  be  suggested,  that  the  political  Corpo 
rations  alone  ought  to  have  the  administration  of  Localities ;  we 
would  have  to  reply,  no  !  because  the  administration  over  Local 
ities  may  sound  very  innocently,  but  means,  administration  over 
all  the  persons  of  all  the  other  Corporations: — and  this  would 
be  simply  to  nullify  our  whole  theory  of  Corporations,  and 


420  BK.  IV.      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  III. 

indeed  of  right  civil  government  itself.  Hence,  these  political 
Corporations,  being  of  the  kind  called  separate  and  plenary, 
must  merely  be  classed  with  those  separate  business  or  separate 
moral  Corporations,  which  are  exceptional  to  our  general  theory, 
because,  although  based  on  one  idea,  they  yet  really  intend  to 
apply  to  all  kinds  of  political  administration,  and  to  all  other 
ideas.  This  general  administration  is  only  to  be  'sought,  in  some 
union  of  all  the  three  several  kinds  of  Corporations  here  men 
tioned;  or  in  some  new  combinations  not  yet  needing  investi 
gation. 

§  3.  Operation  in  "Law" 

(a)  The  Units  to  Govern  the  Geography.  Here  come  in  for 
consideration,  the  Local  Units,  and  their  combinations ;  namely, 
Precinct;  Combination  thereof  into  Large  City  or  State;  Nation; 
and  Confederation.  Instead  of  political  Corporations  to  rule 
over  all  other  persons,  not  their  own  members,  and  in  all  matters 
of  daily  life, — our  theory  preserves  and  presents  local  elements, 
and  asks  that  the  civil  government  of  each  of  those  elements, 
shall  exercise  no  other  functions  over  the  Locality  thereof,  than 
pertain  to  the  Locality  itself.  This  function  of  Locality  does  not 
refer  merely  to  roads,  and  buildings,  and  other  geographical  and 
engineering  subjects :  but  refers  to  the  more  important  matter, 
of  who  shall  or  shall  not  sojourn  or  reside  in  the  Locality.  Thus 
the  function  of  the  local  organs  is  restricted  to  geographical 
matters. 

(6)  Corporations  of  Occupation,  Not  to  control  Property  Out 
of  the  occupation.  In  general,  all  legal  "actions"  regarding 
personal  conduct,  are  usually  made  to  involve  also,  questions  of 
property,  where  the  Individuals  have  property  to  make  them 
responsible.  But  it  will  not  do  to  leave  such  questions  to  un 
certain  or  unscientific  decisions,  because  morality  and  religion 
are  the  highest  interests  of  Mankind;  and  because,  sometimes 
Locality  is  the  only  party  supremely  interested ; — but  more  than 
for  those  reasons ;  because,  often,  a  part  of  the  very  basis  and 
intention,  of  the  agreement  in  entering  a  Corporation,  may  be, 
that  property  shall  not  be  made  responsible  for  personal  actions; 
and  that  personal  offence  shall  not  go  excused  for  lack  of  prop 
erty  to  pay  fines, — in  other  words,  some  moral  Corporations  may 
be  formed  expressly,  to  make  person  responsible  for  person,  and 


POLITICAL   CORP.     INHERENT.     ON   COMBINED   IDEAS.       421 

property  for  property;  and  then  again,  some  Corporations  may 
have  received  from  members,  an  insurance  premium  or  fee, 
guaranteeing  the  Individual-fulfillment,  by  their  members,  of 
their  obligations,  whether  financial,  material,  or  local ;  and  as  a 
condition  thereof,  it  may  have  been  agreed  that  the  Corporation, 
in  such  a  case,  should  have  the  jurisdiction  over  the  matter  of 
property.  In  short,  questions  of  property,  as  such  or  in  GEN 
ERAL,  cannot  be  assigned  over  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  busi 
ness  or  trade  Corporations ;  but  only,  matters  of  BUSINESS  or 
TRADE.  If,  for  instance,  marriage  be  avowedly  made  as  a  matter 
of  business,  then  the  jurisdiction  of  marital  questions  belongs 
to  the  trade  Corporations ;  but  not  otherwise, — so,  also,  of  the 
place  of  location.  But  such  suppositions  are  out  of  the  ques 
tion.  Questions  of  jurisdiction  are  only  to  be  decided  by  refer 
ence  to  the  main  objects,  intentions,  arid  basis,  of  a  Corporation. 
If  these  are  bad,  let  the  Corporation  be  made  to  suffer,  but  not 
the  innocent  or  unfortunate  Individuals.  Thus  holding  the  Cor 
porations  accountable,  would  compel  them  to  be  more  careful  in 
their  selection  of  members,  according  to  their  own  principles ; 
until  the  different  principles  of  different  Corporations,  would  so 
fully  show  their  effects,  that  bad  principles  in  the  basis,  would 
be  voluntarily  abandoned  by  the  Corporations  themselves.  For, 
Corporations  should  be  held  to  two  kinds  of  accountability;  one, 
for  the  actual  consequences  of  their  principles,  and  the  other,  for 
actions  according  to  their  declared  principles,  and  according  to 
the  avowed  objects  of  their  organization. 

(c)  Disputed  Jurisdiction.  Now  arises  the  question,  what  is 
to  be  done  in  regard  to  affairs,  or  cases,  about  which  there  is 
doubt,  as  to  which  Corporation  the  jurisdiction  of  them  belongs. 
And  the  disputes  about  jurisdiction  might  be  of  two  kinds ;  one, 
as  to  which  organization  should  judge  the  cause ;  and  the  other, 
as  to  which  should  enforce  decision.  To  illustrate, — a  suit  or 
legal  "  action,"  as  for  instance,  of  divorce,  might  involve  ques 
tions  both  as  to  the  morality  of  any  given  truth,  and  also  as  to 
the  disposition  of  property  thereunder, — so  also  in  legal  actions, 
in  regard  to  change  of  Locality,  and  to  njany  other  objects.  For, 
no  system  of  government  can  be  devised,  that  will  not  present 
cases  of  uncertainty  and  doubt,  as  to  the  form  or  the  organ,  of 
jurisdiction;  which  yet  must  be  decided  SOME  way,  or  there 


422  BK-  IV.      CORPORATION.     III.    III.  III. 

would  be  NO  jurisdiction.  In  cases  of  disputed  jurisdiction  then, 
we  would  have  to  propose  the  following  resources.  According 
to  the  principles  already  laid  down,  under  the  head  of  Precinct, 
and  also  under  International  Law,  the  local  authorities  would 
have  cognizance  of  the  forms  of  proceeding,  to  some  extent. 
But,  for  the  most  part,  the  principle  of  arbitration  snould  be  in 
troduced,  between  the  two  or  more  Corporations  claiming  juris 
diction  ;  or  else  a  court  established  of  equal  numbers  from  each, 
which  is  in  fact  a  subtle  realization,  and  a  legal  form,  of  arbitra 
tion.  The  higher  kinds  of  arbitration,  are  our  principal  judicial 
resource  generally,  and  will  be  explained  fully,  under  "Civil 
Government" :  and  have  already  been  mentioned  in  the  Summary 
Introduction,  Pt.  II.,  Chap.  X.,  under  the  head  of  Arbitration- 
Juries. 

Again,  the  question  arises,  how  are  disputes  to  be  settled  be 
tween  Individuals  belonging  to  different  Corporations;  and  again, 
the  answer  is, — by  arbitration. 

Furthermore,  where  several  different  Corporations  exercised 
jurisdiction  on  the  same  ground  or  Locality,  as  our  theory  pro 
poses, — there  might  arise  a  fear,  lest  disputes  would  be  multiplied, 
and  injustice  increased; — But  that  altogether  depends  on  the  effi 
cacy  of  the  system  in  detecting  wrong,  and  punishing  it.  And 
while  we  affirm,  that  the  proposed  system  would  be  almost  indefi 
nitely  better  than  the  present  common  one,  both  for  punishing 
wrongs,  and  for  securing  rights, — yet  this  affirmation  can  only 
be  demonstrated  by  actual  EXPERIMENT. 

Another  point  in  jurisdiction,  is,  that  there  must  always  be 
some  power  which  is  supreme,  in  each  particular  case  ;  some  kind 
of  power,  also,  supreme  over  the  whole  organism.  What  is  the 
supreme  power  in  this  system?  It  cannot  be  any  merely  tem 
porary,  or  special,  council  of  arbitration.  Furthermore,  it  cannot 
be  any  of  these  artificial  combinations  called  Corporations.  The 
supreme  power  which  controls  the  whole  organism,  is  the  power 
of  Locality.  Because,  nothing  can  be  done  otherwise  than  IN 
some  Locality.  And  what  is  prevented  in  every  locality,  cannot 
be  done  at  all.  But  this  organ  is  to  enforce  its  authority,  not  by 
interfering  with  the  agreements  of  the  parties,  nor  with  the  right 
of  Corporation,  but  by  adhering  strictly  to  its  own  rights,  as 
governing  Localities.  The  Precinct,  when  disobeyed,  would, — 


POLITICAL   CORP.     INHERENT.     ON    COMBINED   IDEAS.       423 

after  due  notice  and  under  due  regulations,  as  set  forth  under 
that  head, — order  the  departure  of  the  offending  party.  And 
every  supreme  or  more  general  local  government,  up  to  Nation, 
or  even  up  to  Confederation, — would  have  the  same  kind  of 
authority;  to  be  exercised  under  similar  restrictions,  of  righteous 
principles  in  the  methods  of  its  enforcement. 

It  is  also  the  duty  of  the  superior  power,  to  compel  the  Pre 
cincts  and  Corporations  to  fulfill  the  obligations  which  they 
voluntarily  undertake. 

§  4.  Divine  Morality,  the  Great  General  of  All  the  Bases. 

(a)  Comte's  Generality-Principle,  with  a  New  Turn.  In  a  com 
plete,  or  even  in  a  practical  classification  of  co-ordinations, — 
Comte  (Pos.  Phil.  p.  775),  affirms,  that  the  basis  will  always  be 
one  and  the  same ;  that  is,  the  basis  of  all  classifications ;  even 
when  carried  into  practical  life ;  namely,  "  THAT  OF  THE  DE 
GREE  OF  GENERALITY,  AND  SIMPLICITY,  OF  THE  SUBJECT. 

*  *  *  The  same  principle  was  tested,  (he  says),  in  its  application, 
in  the  interior  of  each  science ;  and,  when  we  were  applying  it 
in  Biology,  we  found  it  assuming  a  more  active  character,  indi 
cating  its  social  destination.  Transferred  from  ideas  and  phe 
nomena,  to  actual  beings,  it  became  the  principle  of  zoological 
classification.  We  then  found  it  to  be  the  basis  of  Social  Statics; 
and  our  dynamical  inquiry  showed  us,  that  it  [namely,  this 
generality-basis  of  all  classification],  has  determined  all  the 
elementary  evolutions  of  modern  social  practice.  *  *  *  It  will 
always  be  found  working  identically,  in  every  system  which 
consists  of  homogeneous  elements, — subjecting  all  orders  of  act 
ivity  to  their  due  classification, ^according  to  their  respective  de 
grees  of  abstractness  and  generality.  This  was  the  principle  of 
classification,  in  old  societies ;  and  we  see  vestiges  of  it  yet,  in 
the  military  organization,  where  the  very  terms  of  office  [i.e., 
General,  Major  General,  &c.,]  indicate  that  the  less  general,  are 
subordinated  to  the  more  general,  functions.  It  needs  no  proof 
then,  that,  in  a  regenerated  society,  homogeneous  in  its  elements, 
— the  change  that  will  take  place,  will  be  found  to  be,  not  in  the 
elements,  but,  in  their  classification." 

Now  we  feebly  strike  in,  and  say; — But,  it  is  obvious,  that 
this  spontaneous  classification  by  human  beings,  into  right  orders, 
and  by  obedience  thereunder, — depends  largely  on  the  MOEAL- 


424  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  III. 

ITY  of  Individuals,  and,  of  Governments.  For,  the  order  actual 
in  the  world,  is  neither  right  nor  harmonious,  unless  in  mat 
ters  wherein  men's  lives  are  immediately  in  danger,  as  is  the 
case  in  military  and  naval,  and  in  some  other  extraordinary  af 
fairs.  DIVINE  morality  therefore,  that  is  to  say,  religion,  must 
be  looked  to,  as  the  highest  generalization;  and  at  the  same  time, 
the  completest  abstraction ;  in  all  practical  thought.  Instead, 
therefore,  of  that  generality  which  Comte  has  in  mind,  namely, 
of  Employer  to  Employe,  of  Wholesaler  to  Retailer,  of  General 
physicist  to  Special  physicist,  &c.,  we,  in  our  equation,  will  have 
to  substitute,  at  least  for  a  time,  Divine  Morality. 

Of  that  one  kind  of  classification,  therefore,  we  may  be  sure, 
that  the  system  based  upon  Divine  Morality,  would  ultimately 
enable  the  distinction  to  be  manifested,  and  to  prevail, — between 
the  two  great  classes  of  persons  into  which  all  the  world  may  be 
divided,  namely,  those  who  are  children  of  God,  and  those  who 
are  not ; — and  that  some  how  or  other,  gradually  but  surely,  the 
two  great  and  all  absorbing  classes  of  Corporations,  would  be  the 
two  now  mentioned.  And  the  more  free  the  right,  and  the  more 
thoroughly  the  organizations,  were  discovered  and  provided  for, 
to  allow  this  freedom  to  develop ;  the  more  clearly  this  great 
distinction  would  rise  above  all  others,  or  in  all  others;  and 
especially  above  all  those,  so  called,  religious  falsities,  and  sec 
tarian  and  formal  misunderstandings,  which  now  involve  the 
true  Israel  with  the  non-Israel,  in  a  common  reputation  and  a 
common  fate. 

(6)  Scripture  Arguments.  But  did  not  our  Saviour  say,  "let 
both  grow  together  until  the  harvest"?  So  he  did  :  but  he  said 
this  to  those  violent  puritans,  who  would  go  directly  to  work  in  an 
unscientific  and  outward  way,  to  judge  between  others,  as  to  who 
were  the  true  "  Israelites"  and  who  were  not.  He  was  not  speak 
ing  to  those  who  would  provide  a  method,  whereby  his  people 
and  the  worldly,  would  voluntarily,  and  with  mutual  consent, 
indirectly  and  upon  independent  and  different  grounds,  segregate 
themselves.  And  his  very  words,  "  let  BOTH  grow  together  until 
the  harvest,"  imply  the  admission  and  perception  of  the  differ 
ence  between  them ;  at  least  in  a  general  way.  But  there  was 
then,  as  there  is  yet;  a  great  deal  too  much  bigotry,  narrow- 
mindedness,  and  unspiritual  conceptions,  as  to  who  are  the  good, 


POLITICAL   CORP.     INHERENT.     ON    COMBINED    IDEAS.       425 

and  who  tli3  bad, — to  enable  one  set  of  men  to  judge  of  the 
spiritual  aacapimoe  of  another  set  of  men, — much  less,  to  au 
thorize  them  to  u?a  coercion  in  enforcing  the  difference.  Further 
more,  the  method  or  system  of  Corporations,  does  not  separate 
the  good  from  the  bad,  much  more  than  the  present  system,  as 
to  Social  Circle ;  nor  separate  them  at  all,  as  to  Locality ;  but 
mainly,  as  to  political  and  civil  government.  And  even  in  these 
respects,  it  does  not  separate  them  as  much  as,  (although  it  does 
so  much  more  easily  than)  the  Precinct-system. 

But  we  may  readily  turn  this  allusion  to  the  Saviour,  into  an 
argument  bearing  directly  on  our  system.  The  Saviour  came  to 
establish  a  "kingdom"  (or  polity),  among  h is- folio wers  ;  and  St. 
Paul  reproves  Christians  for  "going  to  law  before  unbelievers," 
and  carrying  their  disputes  to  worldly  judges.  But  no  satisfac 
tory  method  has  ever  been  devised,  whereby  these  Christian 
principles  can  be  brought  into  practical  life,  other  than  by  our, 
or  some  similar,  theories, — namely,  by  Corporations,  first  and 
most  readily,  and  finally,  by  Precincts. 

The  Saviour,  all  through  his  official  career,  idealizes  himself 
into  the  character  of  a  Ruler  of  a  Corporation, — talks  about  his 
"  kingdom,"  and  his  society  (ekklesia),  as  the  same  thing, — and 
continually  gives  rules,  neither  practicable  nor  obligatory,  except 
in  some  such  governmental  Corporations  as  our  theory  of  Cor 
poration  contemplates.  See  also  the  definitions  of  State  and 
CivitaSj  under  NATION,  pp.  243  and  244. 

§  5.   Operation  in  the  Social  Circle. 

The  relation  between  Corporations  and  Social  Circles,  is 
Mutual  and  Reciprocal ;  sometimes  Social  Circles  giving  rise 
to  Corporations,  and  at  other  times  Corporations  producing  Social 
Circles.  Inasmuch  as  maintenance  and  life,  are  generally  held 
to  be  more  important  than  Social  Circles,  the  business  Corpo 
rations  would  affect  and  reorganize  Social  Circles ;  so  also  with 
organizations  on  morality,  on  marriage,  and  some,  on  politics. 
But  inasmuch  as  most  religious  or  denominational  opinions,  are 
frequently  held  to  be  less  important  than  Social  Circles, — organ 
izations  based  upon  these  circles,  would  often  supersede  those 
based  merely  upon  denominational  opinions.  This  does  not 
mean  that  Social  Circles  would  supersede  religion  or  church; 
but  only,  that  -Social  Circle  would  determine  the  particular 


426  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  III. 

society  or  form,  of  the  religious  denomination;  just  as  now,  it 
very  often  determines  the  particular  church  which  an  Individual 
would  join.  And  this  view  has  no  absolute  reference  to  the 
intentions  or  self-consciousness  of  the  Individuals,  but  only  to 
the  course  which  they  do  in  fact  pursue. 

As  Social  Circle  generally  has  reference  to  producing  mar 
riage;  almost  all  civil  Corporations  on  the  bases  of  Social 
Circle,  would  have  reference,  among  their  general  objects,  to 
controlling  divorce,  or  to  prescribing  its  conditions,  in  the  Corpo 
ration.  And  as  human  happiness,  after  a  mere  physical  subsist 
ence  is  obtained,  depends  more  upon  the  relationships  of  Family, 
and  of  Friendship,  than  upon  nearly  all  other  considerations 
combined ;  and  as  both,  the  Social  Circles  and  the  Corporations, 
wisely  look  at  least  a  generation  in  advance, — look,  namely,  to 
the  marital  interests  of  grand-children, — it  follows,  that  there  is 
a  peculiar  propriety  in  allowing  the  Social  Circles,  more  and 
more  to  become  parallel,  with  governmental  and  political  Cor 
porations  for  their  own  voluntary  members.  But,  the  circum 
stances  whereby  this  may  come  to  pass,  will  produce  almost  as 
great  regeneration  and  reorganization  of  Social  Circles,  and  of 
Individuals  therein,  as  our  Corporation-system  itself,  proposes, 
in  relation  to  the  common  legal  and  political  organizations. 
Under  such  an  improved  system,  Social  Circles  would  be  based 
more  on  morality,  and  less  on  property ;  more  on  intentions,  and 
less  on  success ;  more  on  virtue,  and  less  on  intellect ;  more  on 
the  Spirit  of  God,  and  less  on  opinions  about  Him,  or  on  forms 
of  worshiping  Him ;  more  upon  the  ability  of  the  Individual 
to  be  happy  within  one's  self,  and  less  upon  his  ability  to  get  the 
government  of,  or  advantage  over  others ;  more  upon  marriages 
of  affection  or  of  wisdom,  and  less  upon  those  of  business  or 
speculation.  And  so  far  as  based  upon  property  at  all,  Social 
Circles  would  be  established,  more  according  to  a  man's  savings, 
and  less  according  to  his  expenditures.  But  the  main  difference 
would  be,  that  the  power  of  property  in  the  Social  Circle  would 
be  vastly  diminished,  because  its  power  to  control  unjustly,  those 
who  did  not  possess  it,  would  be  diminished ;  whilst  yet  its  power 
to  enjoy  itself  in  its  own  way,  and  to  "  reap"  in  itself  the  fruits 
thereof,  would  not  be  diminished. 


POLITICAL    CORP.     INHERENT.     ON    COMBINED    IDEAS.       427 

§  6.  Applications.    Concrete  Instances. 

(a)  The  Churches.  But,  after  stating  the  aforesaid  theory,  in 
its  most  general  form ;  let  us  give  a  method  or  two,  of  corpo 
rate  political  action,  so  concrete  and  particular,  that  they  might 
easily  be  adapted  to  any  present  idea,  by  society  as  at  present 
constituted ;  that  is  to  say,  by  society  without  any  radical  or 
thorough  reformation,  either  in  spirit,  or  in  forms  o*f  govern 
ment,  in  other  respects.  They  also  serve  as  the  illustrations,  to 
make  intelligible  the  foregoing  brief  general  statements  of  the 
theory.  And  that  is  the  principal  reason  for  giving  them. 

All  Corporations  of  the  moral  elements,  that  is  to  say, 
churches,  and  the  usual  moral  societies,  are,  in  the  order  of  time, 
the  very  last  ones  to  which  general  political  powers,  should  be 
entrusted,  in  fact;  nevertheless,  .because  of  their  having  already 
so  long  and  so  well  established  themselves,  in  the  exercise  of  a 
certain  class  of  functions,  they  afford  the  readiest  and  best 
organizations  to  cite,  as  ILLUSTRATIONS.  And,  for  the  regula 
tion  of  the  two  matters,  Divorce  and  War;  we  shall  elsewhere 
argue,  that  they  ought  to  be  committed  to  these  or  some  other 
moral  societies,  but,  only  under  express  conditions. 

Let  us  suppose  then,  that  government,  in  the  plenitude  of  its 
wisdom  and  goodness,  were  really  to  grant  freedom  of  con- 
scienc^,  not  only  in  religious,  but  also  in  personal  and  political 
matters;  and  to  that  end,  let  us  suppose,  it  decided  to  grant 
to  all  religious  and  moral  societies,  the  privilege  of  exercising 
political  and  civil  functions,  for  and  over  such  of  their  members 
as  would  accept  of  their  plan.  The  following  then  might  be 
the  basis. 

All  societies  claiming,  should  be  considered  churches,  which 
were  at  the  time,  and  had  been  popularly  so  considered ,  before 
the  proposal  to  the  legislature,  of  the  law  granting  these  privi 
leges.  But  other  moral  societies,  avowedly  such,  should  have 
the  same  privileges,  after  the  necessary  years  of  existence  as 
such,  to  be  prescribed  by  statute.  Some  years'  existence  should 
be  required,  to  entitle  to  these  privileges ;  besides  being  regu 
larly  recorded.  The  societies  should  not  have  cognizance  of 
any  circumstance  occurring  previous  to  the  organization  thereof; 
unless  by  consent  of  all  parties  interested ;  nor,  authority  over 
any  Individual-members,  who  had  not  signed  the  special  and 


428  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  III.  III. 

subsequent  agreement,  to  abide  thereby.  This  would  require 
a  general  signing,  by  the  members  of  any  church,  in  order  to 
start  the  plan  in  it.  Proper  forms  for  this  obligation,  should 
constitute  both  the  signers  and  their  minor  children,  members 
of  such  churches.  Adults,  immediately  upon  arriving  at  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  should  of  course  have  the  privilege  of  changing 
their  membership,  without  any  notice,  or  without  as  much  notice 
as  was  required  of  other  persons. 

Appeals  should  be  allowed  to  civil  courts,  only  in  case  of 
clear  evidence,  that  a  person  had  changed  his  church  or  society, 
only  for  the  purpose  of  getting  unjust  benefit  of  this  privilege 
of  changing  ;  or,  that  injustice,  of  a  kind  plainly  recognized  as 
injustice  by  the  society  itself,  had  been  done  by  the  decision  ap 
pealed  from ;  or  that  the  constitution  of  the  State,  or  the  Corpo 
ration's  rights,  had  been  violated.  The  lists  of  members  should 
be  published  very  frequently,  and  very  conspicuously.  The 
duty  should  be  expressed,  of  providing  for  children,  legitimate 
or  illegitimate ;  and  for  widows ;  also,  of  aid  for  divorced 
women.  Also  the  duty  of  efficient  prison  and  criminal  arrange 
ments  for  securing  their  own  criminals.  Also,  that  the  health 
and  safety  of  the  community  should  not  be  endangered  by  the 
Corporation's  neglect  or  inefficiency. 

(6)  The  Communities.  Communities  are  a  much  less  objection 
able  element,  than  the  churches,  that  is  the  usual  moral  societies, 
to  be  entrusted  with  general  political  functions  over  their  own 
members;  in  fact,  they  are  good  and  proper  ones;  because,  com 
munism  itself  could  not  exist  and  be  maintained,  much  longer 
than  it  could  preserve  itself  from  moral  and  political  corrup 
tion.  It  proceeds  from  a  striving  to  be  free  from  corruption ; 
and  also  takes  away  the  wants  and  needs  that  produce  corrup 
tion.  It  does  not  take  human  nature  as  you  find  it,  in  the 
generality  of  Mankind ;  but  selects  the  best,  and  is  selected  by 
them.  A  sort  of  civil  government  is  actually  exercised,  over 
their  members,  by  the  Catholic  communities :  and  Protestants 
should  certainly  have  as  full  a  share  of  rights.  The  Catholic 
communities  and  the  Shakers,  have  equated  the  problem  of  prop 
erty.  They  are  the  types  and  exemplars  of  social  progress  for 
all  time.  But  a  different  system  is  necessary,  when  you  elimi 
nate  the  celibacy  element,  in  the  case  of  those  persons  who  do 


POLIT.  CORP.  ATTEMPTS  BY  CONTRACTS  AND  TRUSTS.   429 

not  feel  called  thereunto.  Moreover,  there  are  even  now,  a  few 
communities  in  the  United  States,  wherein  marriage  is  honor 
able,  and  some  wherein  it  is  merely  allowed.  These  will  be  men 
tioned  near  the  conclusion  of  Book  V.  which  will  be  devoted 
wholly  to  the  subject  of  a  proposed  new  ideal, — Limited  Com 
munism. 

Limited  or  Christian  Communism  is  the  Divine  Resurrection 
of  the  Tribe-Element,  into  modern  society.  From  what,  in  the 
Summary  Introduction,  has  been  said  of  the  Tribe-Principle,  it 
is  settled,  that  the  three  Elements,  namely,  Social  Circle,  Pre 
cinct,  and  Corporation,  must  always  continue  in  living  action ; 
although  we  find  them  continually  separated,  in  modern  times. 
But  it  is  not  necessary,  that  these  activities  should  always  con 
tinue  in  separation.  On  the  contrary,  the  three  Elements  may 
combine  themselves  into  one  again,  just  as  they  had  been  origi 
nally  derived  from  one,  namely,  the  Tribe.  This  conception 
seems  only  possible  to  be  realized,  in  Limited  Communism.  In 
it,  the  Tribe-principle  becomes  resuscitated  into  a  living,  bodily, 
and  holy  element  of  society ;  and  then,  set  free  from  slavery  to 
politicians,  and  political  law,  association  will  manifest  the  true 
nature  of  sainthood,  and  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


SUB-DIVISION    IV. 

PARTIAL    ADOPTION    UNDER    CONTRACTS    AND 

TRUSTS. 

The  Precinct  was  concluded  by  an  Application,  showing,  that 
when  its  fundamental  rights  and  advantages,  cannot  be  gained 
for  its  own  sake,  as  an  essential  Unit  of  society ;  nevertheless, 
they  may,  to  a  considerable  degree,  be  acquired,  for  other  reasons, 
namely,  as  special  grants  from  superior  powers.  In  a  similar 
way,  we  may  now  conclude  the  Corporation,  with  an  Application, 
(but  in  this  case  very  brief),  showing  that  when  its  fundamental 
rights  and  advantages  cannot  be  gained  on  its  own  ground,  as  a 
fundamental  element,  as  we  have  considered  under  the  Second 
Sub-division ;  nor  by  general  grant,  as  we  have  considered  under 
the  First  Sub-division ;  nevertheless,  they  may  to  a  considerable 


430  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  IV.  I. 

degree,  be  acquired  on  other  grounds,  namely,  by  the  means  of 
special  contracts  between  the  parties  as  Individuals.  For,  it  can 
hardly  be  denied,  that  many,  at  least,  of  the  advantages  of  self- 
selected  government,  can  be  obtained  by  special  contracts  among 
a  large  number  of  Individuals.  Indeed,  almost  every  contract 
takes  more  or  less  of  its  affairs  from  under  the  control  of  law. 
Of  this,  the  following  quotation,  from  a  widely  circulated  public 
journal,  is  both  a  proof  and  an  illustration : — 

"There  is  too  much  of  law,  and  too  little  of  justice.  But  in 
this,  as  in  almost  everything  else,  the  evil  being  carried  to  the 
extreme,  works  its  own  cure.  *  *  *  Such  is  likely  to  be  the  case 
with  the  outrageous  trifling  with  justice,  by  the  New  York  judges, 
in  the  name  of  law.  *  *  *  Disgusted  with  the  quibblings  of 
lawyers,  and  the  inevitable  delay  in  obtaining  decisions  in  the 
courts,  the  merchants  long  since  agreed  to  submit  disputes  between 
them,  to  a  committee  of  arbitration  composed  of  members  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  to  abide  by  its  decision.  These 
associations,  if  court  decisions  continue  to  trifle  with  right  and 
justice,  are  likely  to  multiply,  until  they  include  all  the  leading 
pursuits,  as  they  may  readily  do ;  with  much  more  of  satisfaction 
as  to  results,  than  through  the  courts,  and  certainly  at  a  great 
saving  of  expense." 

Since  the  above  appeared  in  print,  the  New  York  merchants 
have  had  their  arbitration  courts  established  more  firmly,  by 
legislative  enactments. 

In  civil  and  political  affairs,  contracts,  although  they  may 
reach  common  business-transactions,  cannot  reach  the  deeper  in 
terests,  where  the  rights  of  persons  are  involved ;  nor  where  the 
rights  of  property  follow  the  decisions  as  to  persons.  And  some 
contracts  are  not  legal,  as  such,  even  when  the  parties  making 
them,  would  take  all  the  responsibility,  and  jointly  guarantee 
against  apprehended  evils.  It  is  even  doubtful,  if  a  contract  to 
make  one's  "  will"  in  any  particular  manner,  would  be  binding 
in  law,  even  if  mutual.  This  inefficacy  is  true,  of  all  those 
deeper  social  interests,  whose  laws,  and  the  consequences  of  whose 
violation,  can  only  be  traced  through  long  courses  of  time.  And 
yet,  these  are  superior  interests,  claiming  the  rights  and  advan 
tages  of  Corporation,  even  more  than  the  lower  interests. 

Sometimes  in  law,  more  can  be  accomplished  by  TRUSTS,  than 


POLIT.  CORP.    ATTEMPTS  BY  CONTRACTS  AND  TRUSTS.      43} 

by  any  other  method.  Trustees,  appointed  in  consequence  of 
Individual-contracts,  and  subsequently  approved  by  additional 
contracts,  might  accomplish  much.  But  a  great  difficulty  arises 
here,  namely,  that  in  order  to  cover  property  by  trust,  the  prop 
erty  itself  would  have  to  be  first  transferred  to  the  Trustees; 
and  this  raises  new  dangers  and  new  difficulties,  seriously  inter 
fering  with  private  business,  and  with  the  interests  of  heirs. 
Xo  doubt,  as  far  as  safety  is  concerned,  there  are  Individuals 
and  Trust  Companies,  to  be  found,  who  are  quite  responsible ; 
but  such  parties  would  not  be  willing  to  undertake  trusts,  whose 
accordance  with  the  civil  law  was  doubtful ;  and  even  if  they 
did,  they  would  then  make  the  fees  and  other  expenses,  consume 
too  much  of  or  nearly  all,  the  profits  of  the  estates  committed  to 
them.  Add  to  this  also,  the  complicated  difficulties  both  legal 
and  practical,  of  enabling  a  man  to  conduct  his  own  business, 
with  his  own  capital,  yet  all  the  time  acting  as  agent  for  his 
Trustee.  Therefore,  Individual  contracts  can  never  approach 
as  near  to  accomplishing  Corporation-functions,  as  we  have  found 
that  charters  could  approach,  to  the  accomplishment  of  Precinct- 
functions. 

In  a  subtle  way,  the  lust  for  property  underlies  most  of  the 
complications  of  "the  law,"  even  those  which  seem  only  to  apply 
to  persons.  St.  Paul  was  right  also  POLITICALLY,  when  he  said 
"  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil"  : — and  "  covetousness 
*  *  *  is  idolatry." 

The  tangle  of  our  real  estate  laws,  originated,  as  J.  S.  Mill 
says,  from  the  propensity  of  the  spendthrift  landed  aristocracy, 
to  hold  on  to  the  lands,  and  to  keep  their  creditors  out :  and 
in  our  day,  the  tangle  of  our  laws  as  to  person  and  property, 
originates  largely  from  the  covetousness  of  those,  who  having 
nothing,  desire  and  hope  ultimately  to  get  something  "  by  law," 
if  not  for  themselves,  at  least  for  the  classes  with  whom  they 
sympathize. 

And  stronger  even  than  the  covetousness  of  property,  is  the 
covetousness  of  POWER,  the  lust  for  ruling  over  and  FORCING 
other  people.  History  proves  that  even  when  property  has  been 
divided,  and  ranks  leveled,  the  lust  of  rule  continues  as  active 
and  as  virulent  as  ever.  And  the  world  has  yet  to  decide, 
whether  the  cry  for  freedom,  has  been  only  an  instinctive  ruse 


432  BK-  IV-      CORPORATION.      III.  IV.  1. 

of  the  "outs"  against  the  "ins"  a  mere  deluded  prayer  of  the 
covetousness  of  power; — or  whether  it  is  the  voice  of  real  justice, 
and  of  human  rights,  for  all  sides  equally:  And  whether,  the  call 
even  for  freedom  of  conscience  in  KELIGION,  was  only  for  freedom 
for  the  caller's  religion,  or  whether  really  for  freedom  for  all. 
If  the  latter,  then  the  rights  both  of  Precinct  and  of  Corporation 
will  surely  prevail ;  and  the  result  will  be  voluntary  and  Limited 
Communism  ;  cheerfully  and  voluntarily  accepted  by  the  rich  as 
well  as  by  the  poor;  because  the  sense  of  mutual  justice  will  be 
stronger  than  the  covetousness,  either  of  property  or  of  power, 
either  by  .those  who  have  either,  or  by  those  who  have  not.  That 
would  be  a  real  regeneration,  honorable  alike  to  God  and  man. 


BOOK    V. 

LIMITED   COMMUNISM. 


MAIN  DIVISION  I. 
NATUKE    OF    COMMUNISM. 

SUB-DIVISION   I. 
IDEA    OF   COMMUNISM. 

CHAP.  I.    RELATION   TO   OUR   GENERAL   THEORY   OP   SOCIAL 
SCIENCE,  AND   TO   THE   OTHER   ELEMENTS. 

THE  reader  has  perhaps  already  observed,  in  the  table  of 
contents  of  this  Article,  an  unusual  abundance  of  headings. 
The  apology  is,  that  most  of  the  article  is  an  abridgment  and 
synopsis  of  a  longer  one,  in  manuscript,  prepared  by  us  a  few 
years  ago.  And  in  abridging,  it  seemed  best  to  retain  the  head 
ings  mostly,  just  as  they  were.  The  same  reason,  together  with 
a  desire  to  ayoid  abstractions  here,  and  to  be  easily  understood, 
explains  some  of  the  imperfections  of  style  hereof. 

This  essay  resumes  the  subject  of  the  general  principles  of 
Social  Science,  which  in  the  Summary  Introduction  were  con 
sidered  among  the  Most  General  Social  Laws.  And  the  present 
object  is,  to  consider  the  origin,  success,  and  failure  of  Commu 
nities,  by  reference  to  fundamental  principles,  and  the  nature  of 
things;  and  to  suggest  an  improved  ideal. 

This  subject  would  not  come  up  until  the  last  or  Sixteenth 
Element,  in  our  social  science ; — but  that  its  exhibition  in  this 
first  volume,  seems  necessary  in  order  to  give  a  fair  view  of  our 
new  theory  of  the  science.  This  is  Synthetics,  but  all  the  pre 
vious  parts  of  this  volume  are  Analytics.  See  Bk.  1. 1.  IX. 

We  have  sketched  the  contrast  between  ours  and  the  Paris 

28  433 


434  BK-  V.      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.        I.  I.  I. 

Communism,  in  our  article  on  the  Precinct.  Our  whole  theory 
is  entirely  different  from  the  Parisian,  scientifically,  metaphys 
ically,  morally  and  theologically. 

Some  people  think  that  a  Commune  is  only  a  place  for  the 
poor  and  idle  to  "sponge'7  upon  the  rich,  or  for  the  lazy  to  be 
parasites  on  the  industrious.  But  really,  a  Commune  is  a  Civil 
Government,  expressly  organized  for  the  cultivation  and  self- 
control  of  the  higher  moral,  intellectual  and  spiritual  faculties. 
Communism  is  not  merely  nor  chiefly  a  tenure  of  property,  but 
rather  a  form  of  government,  for  a  Corporation  or  even  for  a 
Precinct;  in  which  the  highest  attainable  perfection  of  human 
nature,  is  supposed  to  be  the  chief  object  of  the  Individual,  and 
is  established  as  the  chief  object  of  the  society;  and  only  with  a 
view  to  that  object,  and  so  far  as  consistent  with  that  object,  the 
new  tenure  of  property  is  introduced. 

The  object  is  not  to  lessen  labor,  so  much  as  to  make  it  pleas 
ant.  Thus  one  of  the  incidental  designs  is  (like  that  of  the 
kindergarten),  to  make  all  play  work,  and  all  work  play;  that 
is,  to  eliminate  the  distinction  between  play  and  work ;  which  is 
the  result  the  Fourierites  long  for,  under  their  name  "attractive 
industry." 

The  Community-life  may  be  sought  from  four  different  direc 
tions,  or,  sources  of  motives.  One  direction  is,  from  the  desire  of 
a  higher  and  perfect  life  ;  another  direction  is,  from  the  desire  of 
improved  civil  government,  such  as  is  possible  only  in  voluntary 
Corporation  ;  and  another  is,  from  a  desire  for  pecuniary  gain ; 
and  the  other  is,  from  a  desire  for  pleasure, — for  an  easy  idle 
or  tasteful  and  pleasant  life.  These  sources  are  valuable  in  the 
order  just  set  down.  Either  one  of  them  except  the  last,  may 
be  sufficiently  overpowering,  to  hold  suitable  persons  together 
awhile.  But  the  desire  for  idleness,  or  the  gratification  of  taste 
above  one's  means,  or  past  habits,  is  itself  contrary  to  content 
ment  or  goodness,  and  leads  to  decay.  And  the  desire  for  pecu 
niary  gain  is  of  too  low  or  self-interested  a  kind,  to  give  perma 
nency  ;  but  being  good  in  itself,  it  may,  in  community,  lead  to 
such  moral  and  spiritual  improvements,  as  will  gradually  glide 
into  the  higher  motives  just  mentioned.  But,  as  to  the  second 
source,  namely,  desire  for  the  highest  political  improvement  under 
Corporations,  we  may  say,  that  when  it  is  merely  a  demagogic 


NATURE.     IDEA.     GENERAL   RELATIONS.  435 

frenzy,  tending  to  leveling  any  righteous  or  necessary  distinc 
tions,  it  will  soon,  of  itself,  destroy  any  government  which  it  can 
establish, — not  less  certainly  than,  that  nearly  all  the  republics  of 
history,  have  gone  down  by  intestine  broils.  Successes  and  mis 
fortunes  alike  drive  the  members  to  dissatisfaction,  cabal,  tyranny, 
and  dissolution. 

In  monarchical  countries,  the  desire  for  political  improvement 
would  be  apt  to  have  the  tendency  towards  equality  and  frater 
nity;  but  in  democratic  countries,  this  communistic  desire  for 
political  improvement  would  be  apt  to  have  the  tendency  towards 
strong  government ;  not  indeed  towards  the  old  sort  of  aristoc 
racies,  but,  either  to  some  sort  of  theocracy,  or  partly  to  joint 
stockism,  or  other  reaction  against  dernagogery.  Its  demands 
will  be  for  justice  and  fraternity.  Its  mottoes  will  be  the  father 
hood  of  God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man ;  and  if  successful, 
would  thus  lead  up  to  the  insinuation  and  adoption,  of  higher 
motives  than  those  with  which  it  had  been  begun.  But  no 
Communism  which  does  not,  at  least,  tend  towards  becoming  an 
institution  for  the  promotion  of  the  higher  moral  life,  need  be 
expected  to  succeed  long. 

On  the  side  of  religion,  a  Commune  may  be  denned  to  be,  a 
civil  society  of  religious  persons  whose  rule  is  perfection  in  all 
duties  towards  their  fellow-beings,  and  whose  aim  is  perfection 
in  all  duties  individually  towards  each  other.  On  the  side  of 
government,  a  Commune  may  be  denned  to  be  a  civil  and  politi 
cal  Corporation,  having  for  its  constant  aim,  its  ideal  of  political 
government :  and  whatever  else  it  is,  it  must  be  a  highly  obeyed 
system  of  government,  both  in  one's  Individual-soul,  and  in  the 
association. 

On  the  side  of  property,  a  Commune  may  be  defined  to  be,  a 
.civil  and  social  Corporation,  in  which  the  property  owners  agree 
to  furnish,  to  non-property  holders,  an  equal  share  of  the  net 
profits ;  and  the  non-property  holders  agree,  in  return,  to  allow  the 
others  to  have  an  equal  share  in  the  government  of  the  concern. 

In  the  totality,  the  definition  would  be,  a  Commune  is  a  pro 
gressive  social  organization,  whose  aim  is  the  identification  of 
church  and  state,  in  the  love  and  choice  of  every  Individual : 
and  whose  organization  is  a  high  type  and  partial  realization  of 
its  holy  aim,  and  which  does  not  disregard  the  faith  that  t\iQfull 


436  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  I.  I. 

realization  is  possible,  only  in  the  Millennium,  or  perhaps,  only 
in  Heaven  itself. 

But  a  Commune  differs  from  a  Church,  by  not  presupposing 
a  profession  of  religion,  any  farther  than  is  implied  in  devotion 
to  perfect  morality;  and  differs  (in  an  opposite  direction,)  by 
having  the  attainment  of  perfect  religion  as  its  chief  object;  and 
having  unselfishness  and  communism  as  parts  of  its  religion. 

Communism  is  one  of  the  methods  and  means  whereby  Social 
Science  in  general,  is  to  be  attained  and  promoted;  and  the 
Communistic  theorizers  and  experimenters  are  prominent,  among 
those  to  whom  we  are  to  look,  for  the  development  of  the  most 
general  theories  of  society.  Communities  are  exemplifications 
of  the  general  social  laws,  and  are  types  of  society  itself.  Just 
as  the  perfection  of  human  society  will  probably  be,  that  all 
good  Individuals  will  arrange  themselves  in  Communities, — so 
also,  the  culmination  of  -Social  Science  will  be,  such  systems  as 
will  make  those  Communities  practicable ;  even  if  not  practicable 
sooner ;  but  the  rights  of  the  other  Units, — Individual,  Family, 
&c.,  must  be  maintained. 

In  its  strictest  sense,  the  Locus  of  Intersection  of  Communism 
with  the  rest  of  our  Science,  is  in  the  voluntary  element  of  civil 
government, — Corporations,  and  especially  with  those  founded 
on  the  moral  basis  :  because,  it  is  now  well  ascertained,  that  only 
the  religious  or  moral  element  can  make  a  Commune  succeed. 
Communes  strictly  belong  to  the  third  or  highest  class  of 
Corporations,  namely,  those  having  Inherent  Political  Func 
tion-.  h:ee  Book  IV.  Corporation,  Main  Division  III.,  Sub- 
Division  III. 

Again,  the  other  Elements  of  Tribe,  namely,  Social  Circle 
and  Precinct,  also  enter  essentially  into  the  nature  of  a  Com- 
nrme ;  and  must  be  respected  by  it. 

A  Commune  must  be  founded  in  the  Tribe-principle,  suffi 
ciently,  to  retain  in  voluntary  membership  the  GENERALITY  of 
the  children  born  and  raised  in  it.  Hence,  neither  the  Indi 
vidual  nor  the  Family  Element,  and  neither  self-will  nor  Family 
affection,  can  be  supreme  in  Communism ;  nor  can  those  persons 
succeed,  who  assume  as  an  axiom,  that  either  the  Individual  or 
the  Family,  is  the  sole  or  supreme  Unit  of  society,  the  sole  rock 
on  which  it  is  founde  1. 


NATURE.    IDEA.     CLASSIFICATIONS.  437 

The  fundamental  ideas  of  Communism  may  be  summed  up  in 
two  analogous  principles :  one,  relating  to  the  conditions  of 
Individual-membership;  and  the  other,  to  the  objects  of  the 
association.  The  conditions  of  membership  are,  the  perfect  per 
formance  of  all  duties  to  our  fellow-beings ;  the  objects  of  the 
association  are,  to  assist  one  another  in  the  performance  of  all 
duties,  to  God  and  men. 

CHAP.  II.    CLASSIFICATIONS. 

There  are  now  existing  in  the  United  States,  thirty-two 
successful  Protestant  Communities,  containing  altogether  about 
13,000  persons,  besides  the  large  number  of  Catholic  recluse 
houses.  There  have  also  been  many  unsuccessful  attempts 
among  Protestants,  of  which  the  twelve  most  important,  lasted 
from  two  to  eighteen  years  each.  See  Main  Div.  IV.,  Sub- 
Div.  III.  of  this  article. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Noyes  formally  divides  the  unsuccessful  Communes 
into  two  kinds, — one,  in  which  Owen's  ideal  was  prominent, 
namely,  home,  and  thence  Communism ;  the  other,  in  which 
Fourier's  ideal  predominated,  namely,  the  joint  stock  idea.  But 
he  (N.)  seems  to  make  a  third  class,  i.e.  the  spiritualistic.  We 
think  the  successful  Communes  in  the  United  States,  possessed 
all  three  of  the  following  qualifications  :  namely,  they  had  their 
religious  leader  as  their  communistic  leader;  their  poverty  led 
them  to  seek  chiefly  a  livelihood ;  and  they  had  a  high  sense  of 
honor  in  the  little  matters  of  daily  life ;  but  those  which  failed 
seemed  to  lack  one  or  another  of  these  elements. 

The  successful  Communities  in  every  age  of  the  world,  have 
included  nearly  all  the  following  principles :  (1)  that  the  Com 
munity-life  is  to  be  sought  as  a  means  of  perfection ;  (2)  that 
the  government  of  them  is  to  be  in  the  hands  of  good  men ; 
(3)  that  the  governors  are  supposed  to  be  saints,  or  to  be  leading 
lives  of  some  sort  of  inspiration,  or  peculiar  consecration. 

All  Communities  that  can  be  permanently  successful,  may  be 
classified  into:  (1)  those  in  which  the  principal  element  is  re 
ligious  reverence ;  (2)  those  in  which  that  element  is  some  kind 
of  human  reverence ;  (3)  in  which  it  is  complete  consecration  to 
perfect  human  duty ;  and  (4)  complete  consecration  to  the  per 
fection  of  all  duties,  human  and  divine. 


438  EK-  V-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      I.  I.  III. 

In  our  Part  IV.  of  this  article  or  "book"  we  divide  the  success 
ful  Communes  of  the  United  States  thus; — Catholic;  and  Prot 
estant  : — The  Protestant  are  sub-divided  into, — Those  which  have 
regular  marriage, — and  Those  which  do  not  have  regular  marriage. 
— And  these  latter  are  divided  into  celibate, — and  mixed-love. 

There  are  not  (we  think)  any  Catholic  Communities  in  the 
United  States,  allowing  marriage ;  but  in  the  Middle  Ages  in 
Europe,  there  were  several  such,  and  all  were  military  orders, 
— (established  to  war  against  the  anti-Christian  nations), — 
namely,  "  Knights  of  St.  James  of  the  Sword," — "  Order  of 
Calatrava,"— Of  Avis,— Of  Jesus  Christ,— Of  St.  Michael,— 
And  of  Alcantara. 

All  possible  Communes  may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  good 
and  bad ;  and  two  divisions  of  each  class ;  namely,  one,  on  the 
basis  of  social  equality,  the  other,  on  the  opposite  practice, — 
making  four  divisions  in  all.  But  no  really  bad  Commune  is 

likely  to  prosper,  or  exist,  any  great  length  of  time  by  itself. 
\ 

CHAP.  III.    IDEALS. 

There  is  but  one  way,  in  the  actual  course  of  a  Nation,  and 
equally  so  in  the  study  of  Society,  to  succeed  in  developing  truth, 
and  in  making  real  progress;  viz.,  by  constantly  aiming  to  make 
them  perfect.  The  ideal  of  hope  is  necessary  to  the  formation 
of  a  true  science,  and  to  the  actual  aim  of  Nations  and  govern 
ment.  Every  man's  Social  Science  must  vary,  according  as  his 
religion  varies,  and  as  his  highest  ideal  of  morality.  The  great 
want  of  human  society  to-day,  is  a  good  ideal.  Men  are  tired 
and  sick  of  temporary  expedients,  and  political  corruption ;  and 
have  therefore  become  discouraged  in  their  eiforts  to  improve 
Society.  The  case  is  as  Samuel  Johnson  says, — that  "worship 
ing  ideals  is  the  condition  of  spiritual  life,  and  that  losing  a  belief 
that  there  is  somewhere  a  better  than  ourselves,  is  gravitating 
downwards  to  what  is  worse  than  ourselves."  What  is  an 
Individual  or  a  Society  or  a  Nation  or  even  Mankind  itself, — 
without  an  ideal  of  what  it  hopes  for,  and  what  it  aims  to  be  ? 
The  thing  wanted,  therefore,  is  an  entirely  new  prospect,  and 
that  means  an  entirely  new  ideal. 

Communism  is  the  ideal  of  Social  Science ;  but  it  is  not  neces 
sary  that  the  ideal  should  be  unalterably  fixed  in  the  beginning. 


NATURE.     IDEA.     LIMITATIONS.  439 

Yet,  for  the  beginning,  we  know,  that  as  Social  Science  comes 
in  place  of  the  obsolete  or  scholastic  theology  (which  needed  a 
monastic  or  contemplative  life  to  develop  it),  so  the  modern 
Communism,  also  requires  a  CONTEMPLATIVE  life  for  its  de 
velopment  and  maturity. 

The  ideal  of  a  completely  happy  State  or  Society,  is  probably 
all  contained  in  the  two  objects, — u  mutual  assurance"  of  life, 
property,  business,  education,  and  enjoyment :  and  co-operation 
in  all  things,  instead  of  competition. 

The  essentials  of  Communism  may  be  summed  up  in  these 
two;  namely,  fulfilling  duties  to  our  neighbor  perfectly;  and 
sufficient  agreement  as  to  what  these  duties  are,  and  how  its  gov 
ernment  is  to  be  constituted.  In  other  words,  the  two  require 
ments  would  be,  to  be  unselfish  in  spirit,  and  to  be  harmonious 
in  principal  opinions. 

The  truly  "catholic"  father  Baker,  in  " Sancta-Sophia,"  sums  it 
up  finely  thus,  the  only  essential  for  membership  in  a  Community 
is,  "  to  follow  the  objects  of  it,  according  to  the  spirit  of  it." 
This,  we  take  it,  requires  that  any  scientific  and  homogeneous 
system  of  Communism  is  a  compromise,  and  therefore  must  be 
adopted  as  a  whole,  if  at  all,  and  like  any  other  Government. 

CHAP.  IV.    NECESSITY   OF   LIMITATIONS. 

Most  persons  do  not  need  exhortations  or  arguments  unto 
taking  care  of  themselves.  But  students  and  theoretical  sym 
pathizers  with  Communism,  do  sometimes  stand  in  need  of  such 
arguments.  In  other  words,  sympathizers  with  Communism 
want  proofs  to  justify  them  for  limiting  it.  The  main  reasons 
for  so  limiting  it,  are  found,  in  the  rights,  necessities,  and  pecu 
liarities  of  the  Individual — the  personality  of  Individual  souls. 
The  following  reasons  may  be  suggested  for  taking  care  of  one's 
self. — Other  persons  mostly  do  not  know  our  real  needs  and 
wants.  Each  one's  self  is  his  nearest  neighbor,  to  be  loved  and 
cared  for;  and  is  given  in  charge  for  that  purpose  by  the  Lord. 
"  A  charge  to  keep  I  have."  Other  persons  Vill  take  care  of 
themselves,  and  we  would  be  treated  with  gross  injustice,  and 
worn  out  and  destroyed  by  them,  unless  we  did  take  care  of 
ourselves.  Only  thus  can  we  prevent  the  wicked  from  triumph 
ing  over  the  righteous ;  only  thus  can  we  "  come  to  the  help  of 


440  BK-  Y-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      I.  I.  IV. 

the  Lord  against  the  mighty.77  Only  thus  can  we  obtain  the 
means  to  be  useful/and  help  good  causes:  except  in  the  case 
of  those  who  are  specially  called  to  a  different  order  of  life  (as 
Quakers  &c.).  Others  are  on  the  watch  to  take  advantage  of  the 
weak,  the  generous,  and  the  sympathetic.  They  resort  to  threats 
as  well  as  to  entreaties,  and  to  false  and  artful  tales.  Silence 
under  deliberate  injury,  makes  others  believe  in  its  justice,  and 
stimulates  to  further  injustice;  but  proper  criticism  checks  them; 
and  seemingly  ignorant  criticisms  are  often  well  received, — that 
is  by  well-meaning  people.  But  we  must  take  care,  not  to  injure 
ourselves  by  criticisms  at  unfavorable  times,  and  not  to  put  our 
selves  under  the  power  of  others;  for  they  will  have  hatred  for 
good  intentions,  and  will  take  advantage  of  sympathetic  conso 
lations.  The  generality  of  people  are  principled  in  their  selfish 
ness,  and  do  not  believe  it  to  be  wrong,  and  think  themselves 
smart  in  taking  advantage,  by  legalities  and  opportunities. 

Religion  in  its  INDIRECT  influence,  is  a  necessity,  and  preserves 
the  world,  and  also  in  the  long  run  preserves  the  individual  life; 
but  in  its  DIRECT  influence  it  is  taken  advantage  of  as  excuse 
and  indulgence  for  sin.  Hence  individually,  religiousness  is  no 
proof  of  fitness  for  Communism,  nor  the  reverse. 

The  Family-relations  of  sex  and  children  also  require  limita 
tions  of  Property-Communism.  Hence,  nearly  all  the  successful 
Communes  have  limited  the  Family-relations.  And  the  "  Com 
plex  Family77  of  Oneida,  or  the  free  love  of  the  Paris  Commu 
nists  and  others,  were  it  peaceable,  would  be  most  as  consistent 
as  absolute  total  Communism  of  property,  whilst  retaining  the 
necessary  and  right  order  of  the  Family-relation. 

The  rearing  and  training  of  children,  and  the  inherited  dif 
ferences,  also  the  differences  of  long-continued  habits,  preclude 
unlimited  Communism.  It  is  difficult  to  decide  the  ratio  or 
relative  rates  to  be  appropriated  to  individuality  and  to  inherit 
ance.  But  in  the  apportionment,  individuality  has  reference, 
not  to  an  equality  or  a  ratio  that  must  continue  through  life, 
and  so  would  require  continually  repeated  equalizations ;  but  this 
individuality  has  reference  only  once  to  each  Individual,  once  to 
each,  as  each  is  born  only  once.  And  in  that  apportionment, 
inheritance  also  has  reference  to  the  amount  received  but  once, 
and  from  the  parental  estates. 


NATURE.     IDEA.    LIMITATIONS.  441 

But  if  we  were  to  consider  the  question  of  a  ratio,  which 
should  demand  to  be  continually  preserved  (and  repeated) 
through  life,  we  would  have  to  speak  still  stronger  for  the 
share  due  to  inheritance,  than  to  that  due  to  individuality ;  first, 
because  inheritance  gives  blood,  which  is  not  much  alterable 
by  any  one's  own  Individual-activity;  and  second,  because  the 
cravings  of  inheritance  are  given  to  us  from  others,  and  we  are 
comparatively  free  from  moral  accountability  for  them;  and 
third,  because  inheritance  betokens  the  training  and  habits  of 
early  life,  and  all  those  things  which  are  "second  nature/7  and 
whose  cravings  and  wants  are  more  durable  than  those  acquired 
in  after  years. 

Moreover,  unlimited  Communism  is  not  possible,  because  men's 
educations,  talents,  and  needs  are  unequal.  Moreover,  Absolute 
Communism  even  of  CAPITAL  or  of  principal,  is  a  physiological 
impossibility:  and  those  who  demand  it,  are  either  selfish  or 
one-sided  in  their  views.  The  difficulty  is  this.  It  is  impossible 
for  all  men  to  share  equally  the  capital  of  their  BRAINS.  They 
can  share  the  use  or  measure  thereof,  but  they  cannot  share  the 
absolute  possession.  Brains  and  education  WILL  have  their 
influence  in  the  government  of  the  Commune,  and  in  a  willing 
ness  to  break  it  up,  and  in  their  portability  and  susceptibility 
of  being  carried  away  by  their  owner,  after  the  breaking  up. 

For  instance,  two  men,  and  to  omit  the  consideration  of  in 
herited  differences,  say  brothers,  may  enter  a  Commune, — one 
with  ten  thousand  dollars  in  money,  the  result  of  a  hard  life  of 
farming  or  of  commerce, — the  other  brother  may  have  preferred 
to  pa*ss  his  early  life  among  books,  and  so,  may  have  an  educa 
tion  and  a  learned  profession,  which  altogether  may  have  cost 
ten  thousand  dollars.  This  product  is  in  his  brains,  and  physi 
ologically  cannot  be  shared  by  the  Commune,  but  only  its  use. 
But  if  the  man  leaves,  or  the  Commune  breaks  up,  he  takes  his 
capital  with  him.  Whereas,  the  other  one's  ten  thousand,  hav 
ing  been  given  to  the  Commune,  might  be  either  lost  in  business, 
or  squandered,  or  divided  among  all  the  members.  This  would 
be  doubly  unjust,  because,  in  most  cases,  the  education  itself  had 
been  paid  for  by  the  parents,  and  paid  for  out  of  money  which 
would  otherwise  have  descended,  and  produced  its  share  or  part 
to  the  other  brother.  Consider,  also,  that  the  acquirement  of 


442  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  I.  IV. 

education  is  a  means  of  making  people  nervous,  and  weaken 
ing  them  as  to  their  ability  to  make  a  livelihood,  other  than  by 
mental  labor.  Consider,  also,  that  the  advantages  of  brain  and 
education,  inure  too  much  to  the  male  sex.  Consider,  also, 
that  those  who  spend,  have  had  the  enjoyments  and  the  personal 
influence,  which  spending  obtains,  and  thus  have  had  their  share. 

Hence,  also,  even  supposing  a  Commune  to  be  eternally  ex 
istent,  and  eternally  just,  but  never  to  form  colonies, — still,  cap 
ital  has  as  good  a  right  to  its  share  in  the  management,  as  brains 
have,  or  education,  or  general  social  qualities  and  influence. 

The  ignoring  of  our  basis,  and  the  founding  of  Communes, 
on  capital  instead  of  on  incomes,  is  one  reason  why  some  of  the 
existing  successful  Communes,  have  to  be  governed  by  such  iron- 
hearted  and  despotic  inflexibility,  and  attain  their  full  capacity 
soon  after  their  organization ;  and  why  some  others  are  going 
into  decay. 

But  practically,  no  Commune  can  be  found,  scarcely,  which 
does  not  allow  some  sort  of  private  property  among  its  members. 
All  the  Protestant  Communes  with  marriage,  allow  and  authorize 
some  little  private  property,  such  as  chickens,  bees,  &c.  The 
Oneida  Community  also  has  lately  adopted  a  plan,  to  allow  its 
women  thirty-three  dollars  a  year's  worth  of  dress !  The  surplus 
to  be  expended  as  they  please.  The  Aurora  also  limits  them. 

As  absolute  Communism  is  therefore  a  mental  and  physical 
impossibility,  it  is  probably  inferable,  that  the  call  on  capitalists 
for  their  principal,  is  one  of  the  methods  whereby  restless  in 
tellect,  not  satisfied  with  the  power  it  already  possesses,  aims 
to  acquire  also  the  power  that  property  ought  to  have.  And  if 
such  a  rule  wore  established,  the  already  excessive  rush  into  the 
learned  professions,  would  be  largely  increased,  whenever  the 
current  towards  Communism  became  general.  For  every  one 
would  be  anxious  to  invest  as  much  of  his  property  as  possible, 
in  his  head,  whence  it  could  not  be  demanded,  except  as  income 
in  daily  use. 

There  should  be  a  union  of  Communism,  with  freedom  from 
force.  There  should  be  a  return  to,  or  rather  a  continuance  in, 
that  union  of  fellowship  with  freedom,  in  which  successful  Com 
munes  generally  have  started;  although  afterwards  changing 
from  it.  In  short,  the  Communism  must  be  of  income  and 


NATURE.     IDEA.     LIMITATIONS.  443 

labor,  not  of  principal,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  nor  of  capital. 
Such  has  been  the  actual  course  of  successful  Communes,  at  their 
origin.  Their  later  deviations  from  it,  are  partly  a  return  to 
the  forcing  principles  of  the  world,  and  partly  a  good  object, 
namely,  a  necessity  to  free  men  from  devoting  themselves  to 
their  isolated  business.  The  latter  object  ought  of  course  to  be 
as  fully  secured  as  possible ;  but  the  return  to  the  force-methods, 
is  an  error  utterly  irreconcilable  with  right  principles,  or  with 
ultimate  prosperity. 

Communism  of  capital  is  not  right.  Human  nature  is  not 
perfect  enough  yet ;  human  artificial  associations  are  not  perma 
nent  enough,  to  justify  persons  of  wealth  or  of  possessions  much 
above  common,  to  alienate  their  principal  beyond  their  own  con 
trol.  Parents  who  have  tried  it  with  their  own  children  even, 
have  found  its  ill  effects.  Besides,  this  course  presents  too  many 
temptations  to  those  who  are  seeking  easy  times,  of  selfishness 
and  self-indulgence,  and  thus  becomes  a  curse  to  the  Community 
itself.  The  Protestant  Communities  generally  promise  to  return 
seceders  their  capital :  but  ten  have  failed,  to  one  that  has  suc 
ceeded. 

Unlimited  and  absolute  Communism  of  property,  would 
neither  be  practical  nor  right,  unless  that  abnormal  develop 
ment,  Communism  of  sex,  also  could  rightfully  accompany  it. 
But  we  cannot  admit  that. 

Unlimited  and  absolute  Communism  destroys  individuality, 
and  also  destroys  the  motives  to  activity,  or  else  turns  those  mo 
tives,  too  much,  into  the  channel  of  vanity,  and  of  love  of  present 
approbation ;  which  motives  destroy  the  pleasure  and  the  exist 
ence  of  a  Commune.  Christ  himself,  in  his  suffering  life,  had 
reference  to  the  joys  that  were  set  before  him  (in  the  future). 

Limitations  therefore  are  absolutely  necessary,  yet  I  cannot 
but  consider  that  the  employment  of  laborers  by  a  Commune,  is 
an  unnecessary  limitation,  and  an  essential  subversion  of  the 
very  idea  of  Communism.  And  every  Commune  ought  to  be 
so  skillfully  and  liberally  managed,  as  to  attract  enough  of  all 
the  kinds  of  laborers  needed,  and  especially  of  unskilled  and 
world-degraded  laborers.  Failure  in  this,  is  probably  owing  to 
not  presenting  fair  inducements  to  capitalists,  whereby  laborers 
-could  afford  to  be  admitted  also. 


444  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  II. 


SUB-DIVISION    II. 

FOUNDATIONS    OF    COMMUNISM. 

CHAP.  I.     BENEVOLENCE. 

Benevolence  is,  to  some  extent,  the  foundation  of  Com 
munism,  and  must  in  all  cases  be  the  active  spirit:  because 
there  is  no  hope  that  Communism  can  ever  succeed,  when  de 
manded  on  the  ground  of  JUSTICE,  but  only,  when  placed  on  the 
basis  of  Christian  kindness  and  benevolence. 

We  grant  of  course,  that  some  better  apportionment  of  profits 
should  be  given  to  labor,  than  what  comes  from  the  usual 
"grab-game"  of  society, — that  is,  as  soon  as  the  laborer  is 
morally  fit  to  have  more  pay  and  more  leisure.  But  co-opera 
tion  and  joint-stockism,  can  furnish  all  the  improvements  that 
are  demanded  by  simple  justice.  Therefore  Communism,  even 
limited  more  strictly  than  we  propose,  requires  some  of  the  ele 
ments  of  benevolence  and  religion,  as  chief  bases  and  motives. 
Nevertheless,  the  benevolence  and  religion  of  some  people,  will 
naturally  "  take  the  turn"  of  Communism,  as  well  as  any  of  the 
other  various  turns  open  before  them :  and  in  so  doing,  will  be 
at  least  AS  free  from  self-seeking  of  any  kind,  as  the  benevolence 
and  religion  of  Mankind,  can  be,  in  any  other  direction.  Never 
theless,  the  Fundamental  principle  is  not  mere  benevolence;  as 
readily  appears  from  our  whole  view  of  the  subject. 

CHAP.  II.    THE   CONDITIONAL   MUTUAL   PRINCIPLE. 

The  power  that  first  works  in  the  improvement  of  society,  is 
the  conditional  and  mutual  improvement  principle ;  viz.,  that  a 
man  will  do  right  to  those  who  will  do  right  to  him ;  and  both 
parties  may  then  follow  their  own  united  ideal. 

It  would  be  unreasonable  for  Individuals  who  are  far  in  the 
rear  of  others  morally,  to  expect  those  who  are  far  in  advance 
of  them,  to  become  so  much  allied  to  them,  and  so  liable  to  their 
influence,  as  to  seriously  retard  their  own  improvement,  and  per- 


NATURE.    BASES.     CONDITIONAL-MUTUAL.  445 

/ 

haps  involve  the  risk  of  retrogression.  The  necessity  for  or 
ganization  or  form,  in  societies  for  self-improvement  is,  that 
thus  their  sentiment  or  ideal,  then  becomes  distinctly  avowed, 
and  also  becomes  distinctly  the  care  and  the  LAW  of  the  organ 
ization.  They  take  idea  and  sentiment  embodied  in  words,  not 
only  as  their  government,  but  also  as  their  GOVERNOR.  This 
governor  is  a  principle,  an  ideal,  and  is  one  chosen  not  merely 
by  a  majority,  even  a  large  majority,  but  it  is  a  ruler. actually 
chosen  voluntarily  by  each  and  every  member  individually. 

Thus  self-improvement  requires  men  to  be  freed  from  out 
ward  hindrances,  and  to  have  the  necessary  opportunities.  This 
implies  the  selecting  and  constituting  of  some  sort  of  select 
societies,  whether  formal  organizations,  or  only  spontaneous  ar 
rangements.  Thus,  unanimity  in  main  objects  is  necessary. 
And  then,  many  collateral  influences  arise,  to  aid  the  main  ob 
jects,  and  to  prevent  breaking  good  resolutions ;  such  as  reason, 
deliberation,  sympathy,  &c. 

The  three  difficulties  which  occur  are;  (1)  the  new  society,  its 
organs  and  officers,  become  temptations ;  (2)  men  try  to  gain 
little  special  advantages;  (3)  most  men  estimate  themselves 
above  their  real  value.  Hence,  the  necessity  that  each  one  be 
willing  to  yield  largely,  what  SEEM  TO  HIM  to  be  his  own 
rights,  for  the  sake  of  peace.  Only  thus,  can  the  rule  of  doing 
to  others  as  we  would  be  done  by,  be  made  practicable  in  this 
world.  For  lack  of  this  little  allowance,  for  the  lee-way  of  dif 
ferences  of  opinions,  the  best-meaning  Christians  often  disagree 
bitterly.  But  we  must  differentiate  between  what  seem  to  ws, 
our  rights,  and  what  are  absolutely  such.  And  this  practically 
means,  that  we  must  fill  the  measure  "  full  and  running  over." 
Thus  treating  other  persons  severally,  a  little  better  than  they 
treat  us,  (being  a  little  more  just,  candid  and  truthful,  &c.)  is 
giving  an  entirely  scientific  turn  to  the  practical  emotional 
maxim,  "  Do  unto  others  as  ye  would  that  they  should  do 
unto  you." 

By  this  means  the  "weaker"  or  worse  members  DO  get  a  little 
advantage,  and  a  little  help  incidentally,  but  only  incidentally ; 
because  the  main  ground  and  basis,  ever  is  mutuality. 


446  BK-  V-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  III. 

CHAP.  III.    RELATION   TO   CO-OPERATION. 

In  England  and  Germany,  co-operation  in  single  businesses, 
has  succeeded  admirably.  But  general  co-operation  has  not  yet 
succeeded  permanently,  except  in  Communities,  either  in  the 
United  States  or  in  Europe.  But  what  are  called  "  Mutual" 
Life-Insurance  Companies,  are  really  co-operative;  so  also  are 
certain  subscription  Fire-insurance  Companies,  which,  without 
much  or  any  stock  capital,  assess  losses  in  proportion  to  sub 
scriptions  of  assurance. 

A  report  recently  made  by  a  British-government  officer,  shows, 
that  there  are  in  England  nearly  one  thousand  co-operative  work 
and  trade  societies,  with  over  250,000  members,  and  with  nearly 
§8,000,000  of  capital,  of  which  over  §1,000,000  was  loaned  out. 
Co-operative  stores  are  but  little  known  in  the  United  States, 
and  yet  in  England,  eight  hundred  reported  their  businesses, 
amounting  to  a  total  capital  of  ten  millions,  with  loans  of  a 
million, — goods  bought  for  thirty-five  millions,  and  sold  for 
over  forty  millions,  and  showing  a  net  profit  of  three  millions. 
Of  this  sum,  twenty  thousand  dollars  were  spent  in  furnishing 
libraries,  reading-rooms,  and  other  means  of  education. 

The  best  field  of  comparison  is  Germany,  where  co-operative 
stores  and  societies  have  raised  labor  from  a  low  to  a  high 
position.  In  that  country  there  are  nearly  2000  savings  banks, 
300  co-operative  societies,  and  nearly  1000  co-operative  stores, 
with  between  300,000  and  400,000  members ;  doing  a  business 
of  $150,000,000,  on  a  capital  of  §12,000,000.  Germany,  the 
Land  which  is  first  in  Theology,  is  first  also  in  co-operation. 

The  true  starting-place  for  Communism,  seems  to  be  co-oper 
ating  boar 'ding-houses ,  for  persons  in  a  similar  moral  and  religious 
position.  By  such  associations,  one  business  may  be  joined  to 
another,  and  finally,  all  interests  united  or  guaranteed.  Then 
there  would  be  a  complete  Commune. 

CHAP.  IV.    SPIRITUAL   REWARDS  INSTEAD  OF   WORLDLY   ONES. 

Christian  Communism  is  not  intended  nor  expected,  to  do 
away  with  the  principle,  that  "  every  man  is  to  be  rewarded  ac 
cording  to  his  works";  ultimately  so,  even  in  this  life.  But  it 
is  expected  to  do  away  with  that  principle  in  a  measure,  so  far 
as  merely  external  works  are  meant,  without  regard  to  moral 


NATURE.    BASES.     SPIRITUAL   REWARDS.  447 

disposition.  It  desires  to  take  moral  character,  moral  influence, 
and  a  good  spirit,  into  the  account,  in  the  apportionments  of  re 
wards.  It  aims  also  to  do  away  with  that  principle,  of  reward 
of  works,  so  far  as  applied  to  the  outward  works  merely,  without 
regard  to  the  position,  01?  physical  ability ,  or  the  necessities  of  the 
co-operators.  When  there  is  a  lack  only  of  the  ability,  not  of 
the  disposition ;  it  desires  to  reward  them  by  the  principles  of 
the  gospel,  as  God  does,  "according  to  what  a  man  hath,  and 
not  according  to  what  he  hath  not." 

Notwithstanding  this  brotherhood-fellowship,  il  must  also  take 
into  consideration  mental  ability,  and  make  a  difference  of  re 
wards  according  to  IT  ;  not  chiefly^  so  far  as  mind  is  power,  but 
so  far  as,  and  because,  mind  is  a  sign  of  higher  refinement  of 
physical  organization ;  and  hence,  needs  more  of  the  comforts 
and  refinements  of  life,  and  has  less  bodily  ability  to  work  its 
way,  or  to  endure  its  sufferings.  This  reason  will  stand,  a  rock 
of  truth,  against  the  theories  of  those  who  would  hold  ALL  things 
in  common  without  any  difference  whatever.  They  would  give, 
to  the  plain  stout  hardy  laborers,  the  same  apportionment,  as  to 
the  delicate  refined  intellectual  cultivated  thinkers,  students,  and 
managers.  They  would  give  the  man  who  needs  three  or  four 
dollars'  worth  of  comforts  a  day,  no  more,  than  to  him  who  needs 
and  would  be  equally  as  well  off  with,  less  than  one-fourth  this 
amount.  They  overlook  the  fact,  that  under  that  system,  they 
not  only  fail  to  obtain  the  member  ship  of  the  cultivated  and  the 
capable ;  but  that  even  could  that  be  obtained,  they  must  neces 
sarily  fail  in  obtaining  their  best  intellectual  efforts.  These  com 
forts  and  ease  and  even  leisure,  to  such,  are  necessary,  in  order  to 
allow  their  minds  to  work  freely,  and  to  good  advantage.  And 
the  respect  they  deserve,  is  necessary  to  obtain  their  hearty  co 
operation.  And  without  heart- work  head-work  is  comparatively 
feeble  and  incomplete. 

But  Christian  Communism,  whilst  allowing  these  differences 
of  rewards  according  to  works ;  yet,  endeavors  to  keep  the  mo 
tives  and  feelings  of  self-interest  and  self-love,  in  the  back 
ground  of  its  thinking,  and  out  of  practical  use,  as  much  as 
possible.  Like  the  rewards  of  Heaven, ,  they  are  requisite  to 
justice,  and  the  knowledge  of  them  is  requisite  to  religion ;  yet, 
the  best  men  are  they  who  keep  these  rewards  out  of  their  mo- 


448  EK-  V-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  V. 

lives  as  much  as  possible.  This  keeping  these  motives  out  of 
notice,  is  possible,  not  by  an  arbitrary  effort  of  will,  but  by  means 
of  keeping  other,  and  more  divine  motives  and  feelings,  before 
the  mind,  and  by  becoming  more  and  more  transformed  into 
the  divine  image.  The  knowledge  of  righteous  apportionments 
according  to  works,  is  a  sort  of  military  base,  in  operating  for 
goodness,  and  to  that  base  it  is  necessary  to  return,  or  to  com 
municate  with  it  from  time  to  time,  until  our  forces  become  suc 
cessful  enough,  and  the  country  through  which  we  are  passing 
becomes  rich  and  full  enough,  to  enable  us  to  live  entirely  on  the 
angels'  food  that  we  can  pick  up  along  our  way. 

An  objection  to  this  may  be  made,  that  the  American  mind 
seeks  absolute  equality,  and  will  not  be  happy  without  it.  We 
can  only  answer,  that  persons  thus  determined,  are  not  as  yet  fit 
for  Communism.  Those  who  are  not  able  to  understand,  or  are 
not  willing  to  allow,  the  peculiar  needs  and  comforts  required 
by  the  delicate,  the  refined,  the  cultivated,  and  the  thinkers,  -and 
supporters  of  the  enterprise ;  such  persons  are  out  of  the  spiritual 
experience  and  enlargement,  necessary  to  comprehend  even  true 
equality  of  rights  and  of  needs  itself:  for  true  equality  of  rights 
and  needs  is  NON  equality  of  actual  distribution.  This  will  be 
seen  to  be  so,  when  spiritual  and  moral  ideas  obtain  their  proper 
supremacy  over  merely  corporeal  or  material  things.  To  grant 
to  every  man  his  need  and  his  right,  is  much  nearer  a  maxim 
of  true  equality,  than  to  grant  to  each  one  the  same  amount  of 
food,  dress,  delicacies,  or  respect.  And  those  who  are  not  willing 
to  allow  this,  have  as  yet  their  wills  in  bondage  to  material  things, 
or  else  to  selfishness  and  falsity.  Either  their  heaven  is  in  this 
world's  things,  for  the  sake  of  the  things  themselves,  or  else  they 
are  determined  to  have  by  force  or  deception,  what  they  know  to 
be  more  than  their  due  share  of  it.  But  a  right  will,  a  right 
hope,  here,  is  essential  as  the  very  starting-point  of  Communism. 
These  reasonings  are  somewhat  abstruse.  But  the  wise  conclu 
sions  to  which  they  lead,  are  often  understood  by  the  true  and 
good  heart,  without  much  intellectual  culture. 

CHAP.  V.    UNION   OF   HIGH   MORAL   AND   INTELLECTUAL   CON 
DITIONS. 

Christian  fellowship  in  general  should  be  founded  on  the 


NATURE.     BASES.    HIGH   MORAL   AND    INTELLECTUAL.      449 

essential  idea,  that  there  are  three  principles  which  constitute 
goodness:  (1)  the  virtue  of  the  right  use  of  one's  real  moral 
freedom ;  (2)  proper  mental  acquirements ;  (3)  favorable  external 
circumstances. 

Communism  does  not  destroy  free  will,  nor  moral  probation ; 
but  places  them  on  higher  and  more  interior  things. 

Moral  virtue,  as  a  virtue  of  the  will,  consists  in  the  habit  of 
doing,  thinking  and  feeling  aright,  fully  to  the  best  of  a  person's 
moral  ability,  according  to  the  degree  of  spontaneity  and  really 
free  will,  and  the  amount  of  his  disenchantment  from  servitude 
to  evil  circumstances,  evil  blood,  or  evil  habits.  For,  habitual 
completeness  according  to  the  degree  of  one's  real  spontaneity,  is 
all  that  any  of  us  are  capable  of,  and  is  all  that  a  good  God  would 
require,  and  is  what  constitutes  real  moral  virtue.  But  after  all, 
there  is  an  objective  quality  in  goodness,  even  if  there  never  had 
been  and  never  would  be,  any  really  free  will,  as  to  right  and 
wrong.  And  goodness  is  lovable  in  itself;  and  can  be  promoted 
by  circumstances.  And  a  good  Commune  is  supposed  to  furnish 
the  most  favorable  external  circumstances,  and  the  necessary  or 
proper  intellectual  culture,  especially  as  to  moral  relations. 

The  foundations  of  a  Commune  must  be,  partly  those  of  su 
perior  moral  will,  or  virtue,  and  partly  those  of  suitable  enlight 
enment  in  moral  duties.  Moral  virtue  consists  in  doing  right, 
to  the  best  of  one's  ability.  This  is  a  completeness,  that  Jew, 
Christian  and  heathen,  are  alike  capable  of.  But  a  degree  of 
mental  culture  also  is  required,  to  enable  morally  complete  per 
sons  to  harmonize.  "  How  can  two  walk  together,  unless  they 
be  agreed  ?"  Communism  requires  harmony  of  mind  and  heart, 
also  sympathy  and  mutual  confidence,  upon  the  principal  points 
likely  to  occupy  the  hearts  and  conduct  of  the  members.  These 
points  are,  religion,  honesty,  veracity,  industry,  sex  and  family- 
relations,  personal  habits,  mental  culture,  customs  (or  fashions), 
and  regard  for  customs.  It  must  contain  a  church,  or  some 
moral  or  spiritual  society,  distinct  from  its  social  and  civil  organ 
ization  ;  and  based  on  the  idea,  that  love  to  man,  and  faith  in 
God  and  in  goodness,  are  the  essence  of  all  religion.  It  also 
requires,  in  virtue  and  moral  intelligence,  a  practical  respect  for, 
and  obedience  to,  leaders.  All  the  requisites  may  be  summed 
up  in  being  honest,  truthful,  good-tempered,  and  orderly. 

29 


450  BK-  V-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  VI. 

CHAP.    VI.      RELATION    TO    STRICT    RIGHTEOUSNESS,    OR     PER 
FECTIONISM. 

Whoever  would  enter  fully  into  religious  Communism,  must 
possess  an  unusual  spirit  and  experience,  and  some  degree  of 
progress  in  the  real  interior  life.  Most  Christians  would  speak 
of  a  person  in  such  a  state,  as  one  who  desired,  above  all  things, 
to  live  free  from  sin.  Some  enthusiasts  would  even  dare  to  call 
it  "  perfection."  The  mystics  and  interiorists  themselves  would 
call  it  contemplation,  or  walking  with  God. 

By  perfectionism,  we  mean,  acceptance  with  God  AS  IF  without 
sin,  and  a  consciousness  by  faith,  of  such  acceptance.  Perhaps 
our  idea  of  perfectionism  would  be  summed  up  sufficiently  in 
the  phrase,  life  of  interior  righteousness  by  faith,  or  life  in 
Christ. 

A  Christian  Commune  is  a  shell,  to  hold  and  receive  life 
from  a  church  of  interiorists  and  saints.  But,  it  is  not  de 
sirable  as  a  condition  to  joining  a  Commune,  that  any  should 
profess  having  actually  entered  fully  into  an  interior  life;  but 
that  they  desire,  above  all  things,  to  live  free  from  sin,  and  to 
progress  in  righteousness.  Requiring  high  professions,  is  only 
offering  a  premium  for  hypocrisy. 

There  is  plenty  of  experience  and  testimony,  to  prove,  that 
such  a  state  of  guiltless  acceptance  or  entire  assurance  with  God, 
is  attainable  temporarily.  The  great  thing  to  be  done,  and  to  be 
proved,  is,  the  preserving  of  such  a  state  continuously.  The  real 
practicability  of  sainthood,  has  been  the  avowed  doctrine  of 
more  than  nine-tenths  of  Christendom,  since  the  time  of  Christ. 
The  common  Protestant  reaction  against  the  doctrine,  is  merely 
a  polemical  extreme. 

But  the  religious  Communes  are  too  apt  to  overlook  the  real 
and  objective  moral  pre-requisites.  Thus,  Mr.  Finney's  settle 
ment  at  New  Oberlin  was  commenced  in  the  spirit  of  religious 
Communism,  based  on  some  of  the  common  church  theories  of 
perfectionism.  But  not  going  on  to  the  perfection  of  duties  to 
other  men,  their  spirit  of  Communism  gradually  evaporated. 
The  two  religious  perfectionist  women-friends  of  Mr.  Wesley, 
astounded  him,  when  they  told  him,  they  could  scarcely  live 
together  in  peace  in  the  same  house.  But  Communism  is  not 


NATURE.     BASES.     STRICT   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  451 

possible  except  on  the  foundation,  that  members  are  not  to 
indulge  themselves  either  knowingly  or  carelessly,  in  trespasses 
upon  the  rights  of  their  neighbors,  however  small  or  indirect 
those  trespasses  may  be;  nor  can  they  be  allowed  frequently, 
even  in  unblamable  ignorance. 

This  higher  life,  after  all,  probably  consists,  not  mostly  in 
superiority  of  inward  character,  but  rather  in  diminished  force 
of  temptations,  and  in  improved  providential  circumstances  gen 
erally.  And  this  is  one  of  the  very  grounds  of  the  importance 
of  Communism,  namely,  because  it  diminishes  the  force  of 
temptation,  and  affords  the  most  favorable  providential  circum 
stances  for  obedience.  But  then  it  must  also  be  remembered, 
that  any  actual  release  from  sin,  should  be  allowed  its  true  ex 
pression  in  the  heart,  so  that  the  heart  may  be  really  allowed  to 
feel  and  enjoy  as  much  subjective  freedom  from  the  conscious 
ness  of  sin,  as  consists  with  the  full  realization,  that  this  freedom 
is  itself  the  result  of  God's  ordained  circumstances,  and  that 
therefore  the  glory  is  entirely  due  to  him, — and  as  much  of  this 
freedom  as,  but  no  more  than,  is  consistent  with  the  additional 
consciousness  and  deep  conviction,  that  objectively  and  inwardly, 
we  are  still  sinners,  needing  confession,  atonement  and  sanctifi- 
cation :  and  perhaps  it  may  also  be  said,  that  natural  faults, 
namely,  the  remains  of  indwelling  sin,  may  even  require  re 
pentance. 

If  the  time  has  come  when  we  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
Saviour's  saying,  (Matthew  vii.  12,)  "All  things  whatsoever  ye 
would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them ;  for 
this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets" ;  and  St.  Paul's  saying, 
(Romans  xiii.  8  and  9,)  "  For  he  that  loveth  another  hath  ful 
filled  the  law,  *  *  *  and  if  there  be  any  other  commandment, 
it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this  saying,  namely,  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself" ;  then  the  time  has  come  when 
some  class  or  society  may  arise,  which  will  base  itself  on  duty 
and  love  to  man,  as  its  real  and  only  visible  foundation.  And 
this  implies,  that  such  a  society  will  or  should  reject  all  other 
foundations  that  have  been  or  may  be  offered,  different  from  this 
one,  of  love  and  duty  to  man.  Therefore  they  will  not  allow 
their  basis  to  be  any  kind  of  forms  or  ceremonies.  They  will 
not  allow  their  basis  to  be  the  profession  of  religion,  nor  of  any 


452  BK-  V.      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.    I.  II.  VII. 

particular  doctrines, — nor  any  profession  nor  enactment  of  re 
ligious  duty  upon  religious  grounds  ;  neither  a  duty  of  outward 
action,  nor  of  inward  feeling.  True  religion  lies  too  deep  within 
the  soul,  to  be  judged  of,  in  the  last  analysis,  by  any  other  tests 
than  those  which  inspiration  itself  lays  down  as  the  supreme  tests 
thereof. 

CHAP.  VII.    EELATION   TO   NATURAL   THEOLOGY. 

Any  community,  to  succeed  in  this  enlightened  age,  and  where 
reverence  for  persons  is  not  the  governing  power,  must  be  founded 
on  a  cultivated  natural  religion :  this  is  commonly  called  natural 
theology.  The  kingdom  of  evil  is  eminently  one  of  intellectual 
culture.  Men  cannot  avoid  its  influence  if  they  would,  and 
would  not  if  they  could ;  hence,  culture  in  truth  is  needed,  to 
counteract  the  influence  of  culture  in  error.  Indeed  in  the  most 
interior  light,  we  find  that  all  human  learning  is  of  very  little 
use,  religiously,  except  to  counteract  the  errors  of  previous  false 
learning.  The  age  when  men  were  governed  by  blind  faith,  has 
passed  away.  Even  if  men  know  the  voice  of  God,  they  will 
not  now  obey  him,  unless  he  actually  manifests  to  their  intel 
lects,  that  he  deserves  to  be  and  must  be  obeyed.  The  former 
age  has  passed  away ;  and  men  are  no  longer  willing  to  stake 
their  all,  for  time  and  eternity,  upon  a  literature  alone,  although 
inspired.  The  progress  of  history  does  not  tend  to  increase  gen 
eral  faith  in  any  mere  literature,  as  such,  however  ancient.  But 
the  progress  of  science  does  tend  to  increase  faith  in  nature,  in 
natural  law,  and  in  natural  doctrine.  Hence  there  arises  the 
great  necessity  for  a  cultivated  natural  theology.  Even  the 
Christian  now  bases  his  strongest  evidence,  that  is,  his  strongest 
external  or  intellectual  evidence,  of  the  divine  authority  of  our 
own  religion,  and  of  the  books  containing  it, — upon  the  ever 
increasing  proofs  derived  from  philosophy  and  natural  science. 
The  authority  of  character  is  gone,  and  in  its  place  has  come,  the 
authority  of  philosophy  and  natural  science, — in  other  words,  the 
authority  of  natural  religion. 

Now  the  direct  application  of  these  ideas  to  Communism,  is 
first,  that  the  essential  and  indispensable  basis  of  Communism, 
is  the  absolute  certainty  of  moral  lawrs ;  and  next,  the  consequent 
dependence  of  all,  upon  moral  means  as  distinct  from  compul- 
sorv  ones. 


NATURE.     BASES.     CHRISTIAN   FRATERNITY.  453 

A  Community  is  the  quintessence  of  refined  misery,  when 
chiefly  held  together  by  any  other  means  than  voluntary  ones. 
And  this  can  only  be  avoided,  when  the  absolute  certainty 
of  moral  laws  is  established,  also  the  superiority  of  moral  to 
physical  or  formal  considerations,  as  influences  on  the  daily 
life.  These  moral  laws,  of  course,  include  provisions  for  re 
pentance,  reformation,  faith,  and  spiritual  life.  In  fact,  they 
include  every  thing,  even  in  theology  itself.  But  moral  laws 
are  as  unchangeable  as  physical  ones ;  the  interpretation  being 
found  always  in  this,  that  men  may  choose  to  forfeit  the  re 
wards  of  obedience,  but  then  must  fall  under  consequences, 
which  will  always  be  indefinitely  worse  than  the  pain  of  present 
obedience.  And  it  seems  clear  that  the  only  effective  external, 
i.e.  intellectual  means,  to  produce  firm  conviction  of  this  certainty 
of  moral  laws,  as  yet  discovered,  is  found  in  the  study  of  the 
natural  sciences,  and  of  mental  and  moral  philosophy.  Miracles, 
regeneration,  divine  union,  are  all  found  to  be  not  contrary  to, 
but  in  accordance  with  moral  and  spiritual  laws, — laws  that  are 
as  fixed  as  the  character  of  God  himself.  It  becomes  evident 
that  God  governs  the  world,  and  all  his  creatures,  angels  and 
devils,  saints  as  well  as  sinners,  by  strict  moral  laws;  including 
of  course  spiritual  laws.  Thus  moral  character  and  moral  ex 
cellencies,  become  evidently  the  objects  of  highest,  deepest,  and 
nearest  daily  importance.  The  man  who  would  rather  be  right 
than  be  Emperor  of  the  World,  is  no  longer  felt  to  be  a  fanatic. 
Such  an  one  is  fast  becoming  Emperor  of  the  World,  both  of  the 
living  and  of  the  departed,  namely,  the  founder  of  Christianity. 
All  these  things  are  settled  and  felt  to  be  true,  notwithstanding 
the  practicability  of  repentance  and  restoration  by  the  trans 
gressor.  And,  obedience  by  the  heart,  obedience  in  all  things, 
obedience  in  little  things,  is  felt  to  be  the  highest  good,  and  the 
highest  joy. — Only  thus  can  Communism  be  a  joy;  only  thus 
can  a  Commune  hope  to  become  permanent ;  unless  perchance, 
it  may  have  the  special  providence  of  Satan,  for  a  while. 

Then  again,  natural  religion  furnishes,  not  only  the  doctrine 
and  motives  of  righteousness ;  it  also  aids  the  power  of  actual 
righteous  living.  As  it  gives  the  strongest  grounds  for  faith  in, 
and  submission  to  the  God  of  the  Universe ;  so  it  lays  before  us 
the  ideas  well  calculated  to  excite  to  the  service  of  righteousness, 


454  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  VIII. 

which  is  the  service  of  God — and  gives  the  intensest  desire  of 
obedience,  which  is  the  true  prayer  of  the  heart.  And  then 
again,  natural  religion  gives  us  the  strongest  proofs,  and  one  of 
the  best  outward  aids,  to  the  interpretation  of  divine  revelation  ; 
and  thus  becomes  the  most  effective  real  producer  of  the  love 
and  worship  of  God.  Thus  it  becomes  evident,  how  valuable 
natural  religion  is,  even  to  those  ordained  saints  who,  being  in 
the  divine  union,  have  no  more  need  of  laws  for  their  control, — 
if  or  when  any  are  such. 

CHAP.  VIII.    SYMPATHY  WITH   THE   GENERAL   CHRISTIAN 
CHURCH. 

Sectarianism  itself  is  the  result  of  human  finiteness  and  igno 
rance,  but  the  evils  of  sectarianism  are  the  results  of  selfishness. 
In  fact,  the  subtle  and  refined  form  which,  selfishness,  self-will, 
self-conceit  and  self-interest,  take,  in  the  church,  is  active  secta 
rianism.  But  Communism  is  essentially  unselfish.  Therefore  a 
Commune  must  be  truly  catholic  and  liberal,  based  on  sym 
pathy  with,  not,  in  opposition  to,  the  general  Christian  church ; 
nor  against  their  doctrines  and  writings  generally.  Nothing 
that  is  so  based,  will  ultimately  prosper.  This  implies  a  recog 
nition  of  the  truly  and  equally  Christian  character,  of  credibly 
professing  Christians  in  the  churches  generally.  It  also  implies 
a  recognition  of  the  higher  life,  in  sects  and  parties  credibly  pro 
fessing  such  interior  and  higher  life.  A  sectarian  or  exclusive 
or  self-conceited  organization,  sets  itself  against  the  life  of  Christ 
in  general;  and  the  end  thereof  will  not  be  blessed.  Such  may 
spring  up  rapidly  at  first,  and  show  signs  of  the  divine*  life  ;  and 
in  some  peculiar  moral  climates  may  flourish  well  for  a  while ; 
but  that  is  all  of  the  good  they  do,  and  if  they  become  great — 
Alas !  for  the  evil  ! 

Communism  means  fellowship.  The  very  same  original  word 
is  used  for  both,  in  the  New  Testament.  How  then  could  it  be 
possible  for  a  Community  to  succeed,  one  of  whose  distinguish 
ing  principles  was  ten-fellowship  with  the  Christian  church  in 
general,  or  with  interiorists  in  general,  and  with  other  Com 
munists?  Any  kind  of  sectarian  exclusiveness  is  strong  proof, 
either  of  excessive  narrow-mindedness,  or  of  great  deficiency  of 
Christian  love, — generally,  is  proof  of  both.  It  also  generally 


NATURE.     BASES.     CHRISTIAN   FRATERNITY.  455 

contains  a  large  amount  of  self-conceit  and  self-will,  showing 
that  selfishness  is  not  all  subdued.  And  when  the  fervor  of 
pietism,  or  the  esprit  du  corps,  subsides,  or  the  great  leader  dies; 
the  unsubdued  self  that  hitherto  might  have  been,  at  least  in 
pecuniary  matters,  previously  disinterested  and  generous,  now 
breaks  forth  for  self-interest.  And  "thus  endeth"  its  inward 
virtue. 

The  true  principles  of  Christian  interiorism,  are  in  close 
harmony  with  the  good  in  those  called  "  the  religious  mystics." 
And  these  again  are  found  to  be  in  remarkable  harmony  with 
one  another,  in  all  the  cultivated  or  literary  religions  of  all 
the  World,  Christian,  Mahometan,  East  Indian,  and  Heathen, 
alike.  Among  all  these,  and  in  all  times,  there  have  been  num 
bers  who,  penetrating  within  and  beyond  the  veil  of  popular  de 
tails,  have  found  a  higher  theory,  without  opposing  the  lower, 
and  a  higher  life  and  love,  without  hating  the  other.  Thus  the 
Christian  interiorists  find  themselves  a  part  of  the  WORLD'S 
real  catholic  religion ;  and  give  us  the  nearest  approximation  to 
the  absolute  in  religion,  that  is  attainable'  in  this  life.  This 
general  agreement  as  to  ideas  and  experience,  is  noticed  by  Ull- 
man  in  "  Reformers  before  the  Reformation" ;  and  by  Yaughan 
in  "  Hours  with  the  Mystics,"  and  by  others. 

Sympathy  with  the  general  Christian  church,  of  course^  means, 
— with  the  church  of  all  ages,  Greek  and  Roman,  as  well  as 
Protestant ;  and  in  antiquity  as  well  as  in  the  present.  The  vast 
majority  of  the  church  has  always  believed  in  a  sort  of  perfec 
tionism  or  sainthood  :  and  has  been  without  the  Bible  among  the 
people.  That  is  a  luxury  brought  about  partly  by  reaction, 
against  the  corruptions  of  past  churches,  and  partly  by  the  art 
of  printing.  But  the  common  use  of  the  whole  Bible  is  no  part 
of  the  practice  of  the  universal  Christian  church  in  the  past. 
Neither  is  it  to  be,  of  the  future.  Heb.  viii.  10  and  11,  says; 
"The  covenant  *  *  *  I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel  *  *  * 
I  will  put  my  laws  into  their  mind,  and  write  them  in  their 
hearts.  *  *  *  And  they  shall  not  teach  every  man  his  neighbor, 
*  *  *  saying,  l  Know  the  Lord/  for  all  shall  know  me,  from 
the  least  "to  the  greatest." 

Therefore  a  Commune  is  not  likely  to  succeed,  which  abounds 
with  Bibliolaters,  idolaters  of  the  Book,  disputing  all  the  time, 


456  BK-  V-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.    I.  II.  IX. 

with  and  about  the  Scriptures,  and  expecting  to  settle  every  thing 
with  a  text  or  two ;  with  but  little  regard  to  history,  experience, 
science,  or  natural  religion. 

CHAP.  IX.    THE   NON-FORCING  PRINCIPLE. 

A  Commune  must  be  based  upon  moral  suasion ;  and  not  upon 
forcing  others  against  their  will.  It  grants  reasonable  liberty  to 
all  others,  and  acts  upon  the  maxim  of  doing  to  others  as  we 
would  be  done  by.  When  a  person  is  found  habitually  to  need 
force,  and  to  be  persistently  ungovernable,  or  unimprovable,  or 
disturbing  to  the  association,  he  or  she  is  unfit  for  Communism. 

The  true  peace-principle  is,  not  to.  use  force  except  to  resist 
force;  and  only  then,  according  to  the  importance  of  resistance 
at  all,  and  the  necessity  and  importance  of  force  as  a  means  of 
resistance. 

The  true  life  of  God  in  the1  soul,  has  a  tendency  to  submit  its 
own  will  to  others,  and  to  submit  events  to  Divine  providence. 
It  has  long  suffering,  and  rejoices  exceedingly  in  the  reformation 
of  a  transgressor,  for  which  it  labors  and  prays.  But  it  feels 
itself  justified  in  prompt  resistance  to  the  attempts  of  unfit  per 
sons,  to  obtain,  by  force  or  fraud,  the  rule  of  its  Society ;  and 
requires  that  the  aggressor  should  ever  remember,  that  its  ac 
quiescence  or  quietism  is  not  due  to  man  as  a  human  duty,  but 
to  God,  and  only  and  so  long  as  He  demands  it ;  and  perhaps  as 
a  kind  of  "  meritum  ex  congruo"  or  work  for  stars  in  our  crown. 

CHAP.  X.    ANTI-WAR   PRINCIPLES. 

•  Strong  and  clear,  but  reasonable  anti-war  principles,  ought  to 
be  enunciated  and  adhered  to.  The  following  should  be  an 
nounced  as  the  least  reasons  that  could  be  required,  in  order  to 
allow  war: — (1)  that  a  war  be  really  defensive;  (2)  that  the 
attack  be  itself  actual,  real  and  violent ;  (3)  that  the  attack  be 
unjust ;  (4)  that  the  attack  be  known  to  the  attackers  themselves 
to  be  unjust ;  (5)  that  no  efforts  of  Christian  forbearance  or  kind 
ness,  will  avert  or  terminate  the  war  •  (6)  th&t  the  arguments 
requiring  war  in  that  case,  are  plain  and  clear  beyond  reasonable 
doubt.  Nearly  all  the  successful  Protestant  communes  are  non- 
resistants. 


NATURE.     BASES.     ORDER  AND   DISCIPLINE.  457 


CHAP.  XI.    ORDER,  DISCIPLINE   AND   PUNISHMENT. 

Next  come  the  PRINCIPLES  of  the  treatment  of  criminals  by 
government,  of  children  by  parents  and  teachers,  and  of  refrac 
tory  members  by  a  Commune.  The  principles  are,  that  all  law 
ful  means  necessary  to  prevent  society  or  Individuals  from  being 
trampled  on,  are  justifiable;  and  therefore  the  attempt  of  unfit 
persons  to  get  the  rule  over  a  society  by  fraud  or  force,  justifies 
resistance.  But,  as  far  as  consistent  with  this,  all  reasonable 
kindness  and  privileges  should  be  shown  to  offenders. 

Punishment,  if  necessary,  should  be  administered  to  the  pas 
sion  or  propensity  or  faculty,  that  offends.  The  main  reliances 
for  communistic  and  affectionate  government  or  discipline,  are, 
criticism,  the  fellowship  of  truth,  the  exclusion  of  temptation, 
and  the  gratification  of  all  RIGHT  human  wants  and  needs. 

Yet  as  punishments  may  sometimes  be  necessary,  it  is  best  to 
have  several  classes ;  and  we  propose  the  following.  First  class. 
Special  lessons  for  study  in  morality  and  righteousness,  and  in 
the  principles  and  objects  and  reason's  of  punishments.  Second 
class.  Private  reprimands,  fines  and  charges, — sometimes  re 
corded,  sometimes  not.  Third  class.  Debar  from  social  gather 
ings  for  recreation  and  conversation.  Debar  parents  and  children 
from  seeing  each  other ;  also  husbands  and  wives.  Debar  from 
table,  and  from  certain  meals,  or  for  a  specified  time.  Debar 
from  any  new  clothes,  except  necessary  for  health.  Fourth  class. 
Debar  from  all  social  employment,  or  appoint  the  most  disagree 
able  work.  Order  confinement  to  room,  except  for  necessity  and 
meals.  Fifth  class.  Order  a  peculiar  dress  ;  prohibit  visitors  ; 
allow  general  censure.  Sixth  class.  Remand  to  a  lower  order. 
Seventh  class.  Give  notice  of  early  expulsion,  unless  the  re 
quired  acknowledgments,  promises,  and  reforms  are  made.  Sus 
pension  (or  an  order  to  leave),  without  absolute  expulsion. 
Eighth  class.  Expulsion. 

We  may  also  add  to  these  general  punishments,  non-partici 
pation  in  recreations,  and  non-intercourse,  except  with  near  re-, 
lations.  Debar  from  the  company  of  the  other  sex,  and  defer 
the  time  of  marriage.  And  in  regard  to  children,  confinement 
to  room,  and  even  whipping  if  necessary,  although  we  doubt  the 
necessity  of  it.  A  system  of  rewards  for  doing  well,  might  do 


458  BK-  v-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      1.  II.  XII. 

away  with  much  disobedience  and  consequent  punishment ;  and 
with  the  young,  the  prospect  of  early  marriage  for  the  orderly 
and  obedient,  might  be  highly  successful. 

In  trials  there  might  be  arbitration, — or  a  committee  might 
be  appointed,  one-half  by  the  accused,  and  the  other  half  by  the 
sot  iety. 

CHAP.  XII.    RESORT   TO   LAW,   AND   OF   HOLDING   POLITICAL 

OFFICES. 

We  are  prohibited  from  law,  only  by  the  two  principles, — 
moral  suasion,  and  anti-war.  In  all  other  cases,  Interiorists 
have  the  same  right  to  resort  to  law,  as  other  persons.  Interior 
ists,  or  Communists,  have  the  same  right  to  seek  offices,  as  other 
men ;  when  those  offices  can  be  successfully  sought  and  admin 
istered,  by  gospel  means,  and  in  the  Lord.  But  inasmuch  as 
church  officials  had  better  keep  out  of  political  affairs,  and  as 
all  Interiorists  are  a  sort  of  volunteer  officials  in  the  Universal 
Catholic  church,  it  becomes  most  expedient  for  them  not  to  seek 
political  offices. 

The  Shakers  say  they  have  never  had  a  lawsuit,  (previous  to 
the  year  1871.)  And  those  Communities  that  have  had  suits, 
have  probably  parted  with  unsuitable  persons  at  the  wrong  time; 
having  borne  with  them  too  long  in  quietness,  and  then  arisen 
against  them  too  violently.  But  the  suit  against  the  Shakers, 
seems  to  have  been  instituted  to  obtain  children  previously  given 
to  their  Community. 

CHAP.  XIII.     FELLOWSHIP   OF   TRUTH. 

§  1.   Confession. 

Another  essential  of  Communism  is  fellowship  of  truth,  com 
bining  the  principles  of  Family,  and  of  Sacrament;  and  implying 
strict  veracity  and  frankness,  also  a  willingness  to  acknowledge 
one's  faults. 

The  Communities  generally  make  much  account  of  confession, 
or  acknowledgment  of  error.  And  such  a  practice  would  doubt 
less  be  very  important  and  useful,  IF  it  could  be  made  truly  har 
monious  with  Protestantism,  and  rendered  as  certain  of  secrecy, 
as  is  confession  in  the  Roman  church :  or  if  damages  were  re 
coverable  from  the  Individual-person  or  officer  who  would  betray 
confidence ;  but,  not  from  the  Society. 


NATURE.     BASES.     HONOR.  459 

But  to  require  public  confession  before  the  Society,  of  serious 
matters,  is  more  than  the  world,  even  of  Communism,  is  fitted 
for;  and  would  sometimes  involve  other  parties,  and  lead  to  en 
tangling  lawsuits.  Full  confessions  cannot  be  expected,  in  the 
origin  of  any  Community ;  but  only  gradually,  and  as  its  own 
reliability  becomes  established. 

§  2.  Information. 

Again,  fellowship  of  truth  requires  a  sort  of  Christian  or 
Family  tale-bearing,  according  to  the  command  of  Christ.  \Yhen 
a  brother  or  offender  does  wrong,  another  must  tell  him  of  it 
privately,  for  the  offender's  good.  If  that  does  not  succeed,  he 
must  take  another  member  with  him ;  and  as  a  last  resort,  tell 
the  matter  to  the  officers.  It  is  only  in  a  Community,  that  this 
command  of  Christ  admits  of  common  practical  application. 

§  3.   Criticism. 

It  is  absolutely  essential  that  members  be  willing  to  receive 
criticism,  as  to  their  general  habits  and  character,  and  that  the 
leaders  be  able  to  give  such  criticism  wisely.  Criticism  should 
at  first  be  administered  privately,  and  should  not  be  turned  into 
laudation,  except  where  encouragement  is  needed.  Officers  should 
be  subject  to  criticism,  but^only  by  and  in  the  presence  of  other 
officers. 

But  there  is  a  limitation  to  criticism,  which  is  too  apt  to  be 
disregarded  by  those  who  overlook  its  sacramental  character,  and 
indulge  it  as  the  spontaneous  expression  of  feeling.  Interiorists 
qualified  to  criticise  wisely,  will  be  able  to  govern  their  own 
tongues.  Unless  there  is  a  willingness  to  suffer  much  for  others, 
by  silence,  as  also  by  other  means,  Community-life  is  apt  to  be 
come  a  place-of-torment  on  earth.  The  Oneida  Community  is 
able  to  give,  and  owes  to  the  world,  a  scientific  work  on  criticism. 

CHAP.  XIV.   HONOR. 

Another  basis  of  Communism  is  high-toned  HONOR,  such  as 
prevails  among  real  gentlemen.  The  necessity  of  this  element, 
honor,  is  what  gives  hope  of  success  of  those  Communes  which 
might  consist  of  the  two  Social  Circles,  namely,  genteel  and  sub 
altern.  But  this  honor  is  not  merely  what  exists  between  friends, 
or  persons  of  the  same  class  or  clique ;  but  is  what  exists  between 
opponents,  and  even  between  enemies.  And  in  a  Commune,  the 


460  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  XV. 

honor  must  be  especially  and  above  all,  to  the  Commune  itself, 
just  as  patriotism  exists  for  the  whole  Nation,  or  the  whole 
Precinct. 

,          CHAP.  XV.   COMMUNITY-OCCUPATIONS. 

Each  Community  must  have  its  own  especial  and  peculiar 
characteristics,  either  of  business,  study,  or  benevolence.  Suppose 
the  special  moral  aim  of  a  Community,  be,  as  sometimes  it  has 
really  been,  devotion  to  Theology,  or  Social  Science;  and  its 
members  should  say,  We  would  study  to  know  best  how  to  live. 
We  would  live  retired  lives,  and  open  our  doors  to  others  who 
sincerely  desired  to  reap  the  benefits  of  such  a  life, — in  order  that 
we  might  do  them  good.  These  special  moral  ideas  would  then 
have  to  be  the  bases  to  collect  members. 

The  business  of  the  Commune  must  depend  upon  the  acquire 
ments,  and  means,  of  those  who  compose  it.  Perhaps  it  would 
facilitate  Communism,  to  adopt  the  business  first,  and  collect  as 
members,  those  in  one  business,  chiefly. 

The  number  of  members  must  be  restricted  by  the  amount 
of  income,  and  the  profits  likely  to  arise  from  the  occupations 
engaged  in ;  and  upon  the  proportion  of  students  and  children, 
non-contributors,  and  others  not  immediately  productive.  Of 
course  those  businesses  are  most  suitable,  which  employ  nearly 
an  equal  number  of  both  sexes ;  or  else,  such  a  combination  of 
several  businesses,  that  some  will  employ  one  sex,  and  some  the 
other  sex.  One  good  start  might  be  made  with  students  well 
qualified  to  study  any  desired  sciences,  and  with  an  aggregate 
income  sufficient  for  their  support ;  and  with  such  other  persons 
as  can  co-operate  by  aiding,  as  agriculturists,  manufacturers  of 
wearing  apparel,  house-workers,  &c.  The  publishing  business 
is  peculiarly  inviting  to  Communes,  cither  by  itself,  or  in  con 
nection  with  intellectual  occupations, — also  the  seminary  or  board 
ing-school  occupation,  life  insurance,  annuity  and  trust  companies ; 
also  companies  to  furnish  capital  or  labor,  in  special  partnership 
with  Individuals,  or  with  Communes.  These  would  answer  for 
outside  members. 

CHAP.  XVI.    RELIGIOUS   EXERCISES. 

The  best  religious  means  would  probably  be,  to  employ,  in  turn, 
the  common  prayer  of  the  Episcopal  church,  the  litanies  of  the 


NATURE.     BASES.     RELIGIOUS   EXERCISES.  4QI 

Moravians,  the  class-  or  band-meetings  of  the  Methodists,  and 
the  silent  congregational  meetings  of  the  Friends  (Quakers). 
There  should  also  be  lectures  or  readings  on  Moral  Science, 
Natural  Theology,  Evidences  of  Revealed  Religion,  and  exeget- 
ical  readings  of  the  Scriptures.  If  desired,  "  confessors"  and 
"spiritual"  directors  could  be  appointed  by  the  Community,  or 
selected  by  Individuals. 

If  there  were  regularly  authorized  ministers  in  the  Commune, 
they  would  probably  administer  baptisms  and  communions. 
True  catholic  mutual  liberty  should  be  allowed  in  these  things. 
But  the  communion  of  bread  and  wine  would  probably  soon  be 
come  obsolete.  Sunday  should  be  faithfully,  but  not  pharisaically 
nor  literally,  observed,  as  a  day  of  rest  from  ordinary  business, 
and  of  special  religious  opportunities :  if  not  for  one's  own  sake, 
then  for  the  sake  of  others. 

For  Religion  we  suggest  four  kinds  of  meetings.  One,  a 
Sunday-School,  conducted  in  the  usual  manner,  with  prayer, 
singing,  Scripture-lessons,  and  so  on — perhaps  with  part  of  the 
prayers  selected  from  the  Episcopal  prayer-book,  but  with  some 
slight  revision.  Another  kind  might  be  for  the  adult  study  of 
religion,  natural  and  revealed,  accompanied  by  discussions. 
Another  meeting  perhaps  might  be  for  religious  experience. 
Another  meeting  might  be  for  worship  purely,  and  should  there 
fore  be  entirely  silent. 

If  however,  a  Commune  should  arise  among  and  out  of  any 
ONE  religious  denomination,  it  would  naturally  continue  the 
forms  of  its  denomination,  in  a  general  way,  but  in  a  more  lib 
eral  manner.  But  such  an  arising  seems  not  likely  soon,  unless 
the  seekers  of  some  kind  of  higher  life,  become  much  more  nu 
merous  than  they  are;  because  they  are  now  so  few,  that  they  are 
acting  on  Christian -union  principles;  and  these  principles  indeed, 
are  the  natural  expression  of  the  higher  and  unselfish  life.  But, 
several  denominations  are  quite  large  enough  to  develop  Com 
munities,  each  within  itself,  if  their  minds  and  hearts  were 
turned  in  that  direction.  Besides  the  Catholics,  the  Episcopals 
have  them  in  this  country,  and  the  Lutherans  in  Germany ;  but 
the  Protestants,  merely  as  sisters  of  charity. 


462  BK-  V.      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  XVII. 

CHAP.  XVII.    COMMUNISM   OF   LABORS  AND   INCOMES. 

§  1.  Plan,  In  General. 

Some  hints  on  the  rights  of  property,  have  been  already  given 
in  Sub-Division  I.  Chap.  IV.  of  this  article :  and  if  the  writer 
be  spared  long  enough,  a  fuller  treatment  of  that  subject  may  be 
expected  from  him,  in  a  future  book  or  article,  on  PROPERTY, 
one  of  the  Fourteen  Great  Elements  of  Social  Science,  Prop 
erty  must  have  its  own,  and  only  its  own,  right  share  in  the  dis 
tribution.  Evidently  however,  some  new  scientific  and  moral 
adjustment  between  capital  and  labor,  is  necessary,  and  must  be 
POSSIBLE.  Because  the  let-alone  theory — and  strikes  by  laborers, 
and  pinching  down  wages  by  capitalists — are  merely  grab-game 
methods,  which  must  find  their  final  adjustment,  not  by  force  of 
arms,  or  numbers,  or  stubbornness  of  will  or  of  capital ;  but  by 
reason  and  morality,  and  by  eternal  principles  of  right. 

Our  plan  of  adjustment  is,  as  has  been  said,  the  Communism 
of  incomes  and  labors,  but  not  of  capital  nor  principal. 

But  Communism,  when  thus  limited  to  incomes  and  labors, 
only,  may  seem  very  little  different  from  Fourierist  association. 
But,  both  the  principles  and  the  methods  are  very  different,  in 
all  the  various  great  points,  as  follows.  Our  theory  requires,  in 
stead  of  splendor  and  luxury,  plainness  and  simplicity,  in  house 
and  dress  and  food ;  and  authorizes  no  aristocracy,  nor  evidence 
of  wealth,  in  the  customs,  clothes  or  food.  Again,  our  theory 
lays  stress  on  the  necessity  of  early  and  natural  and  moral  satis 
faction  of  the  sexes,  by  childhood-marriages.  And  to  make  such 
marriages  happy  and  moral,  as  well  as  useful,  should  form  a 
great  part  of  the  motive  and  object,  of  the  government  and 
customs  and  architecture  of  a  Commune. 

Again,  Fourier  proposes  to  make  industry  pleasant,  by  means 
of  beautifying  its  surroundings,  of  home  and  grounds  and 
clothes,  also  by  music  and  drill  and  so  on.  But  our  theory 
proposes  to  make  industry  attractive,  partly  by  the  principles 
of  the  Kindergarten,  namely  by  thoroughly  useful  education, 
made  pleasant  by  arranging  the  plays  of  children  scientifically ; 
promoting  the  idea  of  utility,  thus  to  prepare  for  instructive  in 
dustries  ;  and  partly  by  stimulating  the  other  great,  good  motives 
to  industry ;  and  partly  by  removing  the  causes  of  idleness. 


NATURE.    BASES.    LABORS   AND   INCOMES,  PLAN. 

And  in  general,  where  Fourier  proposes  to  produce  happiness  by 
gratifying  the  sense  of  beauty,  we  propose  instead,  to  cultivate 
the  sense  of  the  useful,  and  the  dutiful.  Again,  Fourier  avow 
edly  and  intentionally  stimulates  competition,  throughout  all  his 
groups  and  classes,  but  our  theory  avoids  competition  as  much  as 
possible,  and  puts  it  into  the  background  among  the  unconscious 
motives ;  because  its  very  principle  and  life  are  destructive  of 
Communism. 

Furthermore,  Association  in  order  to  succeed,  must  be  some 
thing  more  generous  than  any  thing  which  can  be  furnished  by 
the  Fourier  or  Joint-stock  principle.  For  the  financial  econo 
mies  are  counterbalanced  by  the  social  discords. 

On  the  other  hand,  Association  must  pay  some  regard  to  the 
different  proportions  of  stock  contributed,  or  else  it  will  not  be 
able  to  attract  capital  voluntarily.  Then  again,  the  regard  thus 
paid  to  property,  must  consist  at  least  partly,  of  something  else 
than  mere  dividends ;  for  such  institutions  do  not  present  very 
strong  inducements  to  the  seekers  of  dividends ;  and  if  they  did 
present  inducements  to  such,  the  institutions  would  become  of  a 
mercenary,  or  at  best,  of  a  business  character.  The  Fourierite 
proposition  of  rewarding  capitalists  by  honors  and  by  prominent 
positions,  appeals  also  to  the  selfish  sentiments  too  much,  if  the 
positions  were  anything  more  than  merely  empty  honors ;  and 
to  suppose  that  sensible  men  would  be  satisfied  with  empty 
honors  is  an  absurdity.  Moreover,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive 
of  honors  or  positions  that  would  not  be  empty,  unless  they  were 
positions  of  POWER  in  the  management.  Moreover,  power  in 
the  management  is  one  of  the  requisites  that  are  necessary  in 
order  to  convince  capitalists  that  their  property  would  be  safe : 
neither  in  fact  would  their  property  be  safe,  if  entirely  under 
the  power  of  persons  without  property ;  for  there  is  no  fact  nor 
argument  that  can  prove  the  fitness  of  men  to  preserve  property, 
so  well  as  the  fact  of  actually  having  done  so. 

Tfie  plan  of  merely  retaining  power  instead  of  honor,  for 
capitalists,  not  only  suits  them  better,  but  also  suits  fair-mean 
ing  people  who  are  not  capitalists,  better.  Because  it  leaves  the 
official  positions,  and  the  honors  of  administration,  open  to  the 
non-capitalists :  and  practically  does  away  with  the  feelings  of 
distinction,  both  in  the  actual  management,  and  in  the  social  life, 


464  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  XVII. 

almost  entirely ;  whereas,  the  plan  of  giving  capitalists  osten 
tatious  honors,  although  even  empty  ones,  tends  to  keep  alive 
social  distinctions,  in  very  unpleasant  ways. 

The  case  stands  thus :  Mankind  are  entangled  in  a  net-work 
of  circumstances,  the  results  of  sin ;  and  which  are  of  such  an 
inveterate  nature,  that  the  rights  which  labor  and  morality  have 
in  property,  are  largely  ignored ;  neither  are  the  workmen  yet 
fitted  to  enjoy  them  fully.  And  at  the  same  time,  the  case  is  so 
inveterate,  that  no  wisdom  of  laws,  nor  govern  men  t-force,  can 
make  things  better;  but  every  forcing  attempt  rather  makes  them 
worse.  In  this  emergency,  (we  suppose)  property-holders,  or  at 
least  some  of  them,  come  forward  voluntarily,  and  do  their  share 
towards  the  rectification  of  things,  in  a  limited  field,  and  in  a 
reasonable  way.  Now,  will  some  workmen  come  forward,  equally 
generously  on  the  other  side  ? 

The  case  then  is  thus :  Capitalists  step  in  and  offer  to  resign 
a  part  of  the  profits  of  capital,  and  a  part  of  the  control  of  it ; 
whilst  those  without  capital,  accepting  the  actions  of  the  other 
party,  to  be  proofs  both  of  wisdom  and  of  goodness,  give  up  a 
part  of  their  control  over  the  society's  aifairs.  And  the  ques 
tion  then  to  decide  is,  whether  it  is  for  the  best  interests,  as 
well  as  the  ultimate  happiness,  of  both  parties,  to  enter  into 
the  arrangement. 

The  way  to  arrange  about  the  stock,  so  as  to  avoid  the  two 
opposite  difficulties,  of  tempting  members  to  leave,  by  allowing 
them  to  take  the  value  of  their  stock,  and  the  other  difficulty,  of 
debarring  their  heirs  from  it  altogether, — would  be,  perhaps,  to 
have  two  kinds  of  stock,  common  &ncl  preferred,  and  to  decide 
as  time  progresses,  the  proportion  of  each,  to  each  member: 
Common  stock  to  revert  to  the  Community  at  death  or  at  leav 
ing,  whilst  preferred  might  continue  private  property  in  either 
case.  But  all  Commune-stock  in  excess  of  a  certain  amount, 
might  revert  to  issue  or  the  mother  thereof,  where  there  was 
either  left  to  inherit.  And  the  Commune  should  have  the  right 
to  prescribe  its  own  laws  of  inheritance. 

In  the  case  of*  Communes  of  long  or  well  established  financial 
responsibility :  it  would  perhaps  be  best  to  substitute  life-annui 
ties,  instead  of  actual  principal,  for  those  who  withdrew.  The 
amounts  of  the  annuities,  to  be  in  proportion  to  the  amounts  of 


NATURE.     BASES.    LABORS   AND   INCOMES,  PLAN. 

capital  of  course,  but  NOT  necessarily  calculated  as  to  age.  In 
other  words,  merely  pay  legal  or  usual  or  liberal  interest,  during 
the  life  of  the  party ;  the  Community  reserving  the  privilege  of 
paying  the  principal  instead,  if  it  thought  best  so  to  do  for  its 
own  good. 

As  to  the  dissolution  of  a  Commune,  speaking  of  it  as  distinct 
from  an  equitable  division  of  it  into  two  or  more  Communes : — 
a  decision  of  dissolution  should  require  the  consent  separately, 
of  the  board  of  trustees,  and  of  the  board  of  representatives,  and 
a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  stock  of  full  members,  as  well  as 
of  Individuals  entitled  to  vote  for  representatives,  and  also  a 
majority  of  the  females  over  eighteen  years  of  age.  In  a  disso 
lution,  children's  shares  and  interests  should  be  appropriated  to 
their  use,  or  given  to  their  parents ;  and  divorced  women's  be 
held  in  trust  for  them.  This  and  all  other  financial  matters, 
should  be  regulated  solely  by  the  responsible  trustees,  represent 
ing  the  stock  of  those  who  were  full  members  at  the  time  of  the 
vote  "for  dissolution. 

§  2.  Directors  and  Government. 

The  objects  to  be  accomplished  and  the  difficulties  to  be  over 
come,  may  all  be  summed  up  in  these  two  things, — to  get  good 
leaders,  and  to  get  the  members  to  follow  them  cheerfully.  In 
order  to  these  objects,  the  government  should  be  such  as  to 
require  the  consent,  of  both  Capital  and  Individuals.  This  is 
best  accomplished  by  having  two  equal  boards  elected,  one,  a 
board  of  trustees  chosen  by  the  stock-holders  who  are  resident 
or  full  members ;  the  other,  a  separate  board  of  representatives 
chosen  by  Individuals.  Of  this  latter,  one  half  should  be  chosen 
by  men,  the  other  half  by  women.  These  two  boards  together 
would  constitute  the  directors.  These  directors  should  have  all 
the  power  of  law-making,  and  appointment  of  officers. 

Immediately  upon  being  chosen,  the  new  directors,  trustees 
and  representatives,  should  elect  new  officers,  and  the  official 
terms  of  all  other  officers  should  cease.  All  appointments  and 
selection  of  officers,  should  require  the  joint  consent  of  the  boards 
of  trustees,  and  of  representatives ;  except  the  Treasurer,  who 
should  be  chosen  by  the  trustees  alone. 

Stockholders  who  are  not  full  or  resident  members,  should  be 
entitled  to  their  due  proportion  of  profits,  but  not  entitled  to 

30 


466  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  XVII. 

vote,  or  have  any  voice  in  the  management.  Property-qualifi 
cation  should  not  be  admitted  in  government,  unless  as  one  of 
several  in  a  balance  of  powers, — nor  even  then,  unless  it  par 
ticipates  in  all  the  responsibilities,  and  knows  the  advantages,  by 
resident  membership. 

All  Communes  contain  different  grades  of  members  virtually, 
whether  avowedly  or  not.  And  it  is  better  to  have  them  avowed 
and  organized.  Such  an  organization  of  them,  lessens  the  power 
of  Individuals  within,  and  keeps  out  unsuitable  members.  But 
the  particular  grades  would  vary  in  different  Communes.  It 
would  seem  most  probable,  however,  that  with  the  balances  we 
propose,  nearly  or  quite  all  classes  of  members,  of  sufficient  age, 
might  be  allowed  to  vote. 

§  3.  Property ,  Shares  and  Dividends. 

The  way  to  arrange  the  stock,  would  perhaps  be,  as  before 
said,  to  have  two  kinds, — common  and  preferred,  and  to  decide, 
as  time  progresses,  the  proportion  of  each,  to  each  member, — one 
kind  of  stock  is  to  revert  to  the  Community  at  death,  or  at 
leaving ;  while  the  other  kind  is  to  continue  private  property  in 
either  case. 

The  capital  of  the  Community,  besides  the  original  stock, 
should  consist  of  all  the  unengaged  or  free  incomes  and  profits 
of  all  its  members.  And  for  the  surplus  of  each  one's  income 
over  his  expenses,  certificates  of  stock  should  be  issued.  This  is 
an  encouragement  for  all  to  produce  much,  and  to  consume  little. 
The  certificates  of  stock  would  be  available  to  the  member's 
heirs,  or  to  himself  or  herself,  in  case  of  secession  or  dissolution 
of  the  association.  And  in  the  case  of  male  members,  their  stock 
would  be  liable  to  deductions  for  the  benefit  of  their  children,  or 
the  mothers  thereof. 

No  interest  or  usance  should  be  allowed  on  the  capital  stock. 
But  wages  should  be  allowed  to  each  one,  according  to  his  or  her 
industry,  at  the  rates  allowed  for  like  services  in  the  world,  as 
near  as  may  be ;  allowing  for  benefits  in  case  of  sickness,  death, 
&c. :  and  stock  might  be  issued  for  the  surplus  of  production  over 
consumption. 

In  regard  to  the  difficult  matter  of  division  of  profits,  the 
theoretical  idea  is,  that  regard  should  be  had  to  several  things :. 
mental  ability,  moral  character,  necessities  of  age,  infirmity  or 


NATURE.     BASES.     LABORS   AND   INCOMES,  PLAN. 

sex,  and  capital  stock  invested.  But  as  mental  ability  would  be 
allowed  for  in  the  allotment  of  world's  wages,  it  may  be  omitted 
entirely  in  distributing  profits.  It  is  always  apt  to  get  more 
than  its  share,  under  any  arrangement,  and  in  every  association 
on  earth. 

There  would  then  result  the  principle  of  dividing  one  half  of 
the  profits  to  Share-holders,  in  proportion  to  stock,  and  the  other 
half  of  the  profits,  to  Individuals, — allowing  women,  say  twice 
as  much  as  men,  and  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  an 
increasing  sum,  increasing  regularly  as  they  were  younger  than 
fourteen,  so  that  a  child  under  one  year  of  age,  would  have 
allowed  for  it  a  sum  fourteen  times  as  much  as  one  of  the  age 
of  fourteen  years.  But  these  allotments  of  profits  for  children 
should  be  made,  not  to  them  as  to  Individuals,  but  to  a  trust- 
fund  for  them  collectively,  in  such  a  way  that  this  trust-fund 
would  decrease  in  its  proper  ratio  from  year  to  year,  if  there 
were  a  proportional  decrease  of  children.  In  short,  these  allot 
ments  for  children  would  substantially  be,  merely  something  pro 
vided  ahead  for  their  maintenance  and  tuition. 

Our  Saviour  said  "sell  all,"  but  added  "and  give"  (not  to  a 
Community,  but  give)  "  to  the  poor" — give  it  away.  It  is  even 
worse  for  a  Community  to  accumulate  wealth,  than  for  an  Indi 
vidual  :  hence  it  is  as  much  for  the  Community's  own  interests, 
as  for  its  women  and  children,  that  their  portions,  shares  and  in 
terests  should  be,  as  far  as  convenient,  secured  for  them  in  special 
trusts.  As  then  there  would  be  but  little  inducement  to  the 
licentious,  or  the  greedy,  to  break  up  the  Commune.  The  truly 
poor,  are  simply  they  who  need ;  and  this  is  pre-eminently  true 
of  young  children. 

In  course  of  time,  and  after  success,  all  stock  votes  might  be, 
not  in  proportion  to  shares  owned  at  the  time ;  but  in  proportion 
to  the  average  number  of  shares  owned  during  membership. 

Government  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  best  men, — 
those  who  possess  most  fully  the  transcendental  elements.  Com 
munism  tests  men  as  to  their  morality,  and  their  intellectual 
character,  and  should  offer  promotion.  There  must  be  different 
grades  or  orders  of  membership,  based  on  age,  and  spiritual  ex 
perience,  rather  than  on  smartness  of  talk,  or  shrewdness  of 
policy.  ' 


468  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  XVIIL 


CHAP.  XVIII.    EELATIONS   OF   FAMILY  AND   SEX. 

Idolatrous  Family  love,  either  of  a  married  partner,  or  of  a 
child,  is  entirely  subversive  of  Community-life.  But  the  Family 
relation  itself  must  be  retained. 

In  some  stages  of  experience,  the  sexes  should  seldom  meet ; 
but  when  the  married  did  meet,  they  should  come  together  with 
freedom  and  seclusion.  Marriage,  particularly  early  marriage, 
should  be  made  a  privilege,  and  a  reward  of  good  conduct. 
In  some  stages  of  experience,  the  sexes,  when  arrived  at  near 
puberty,  whether  married  or  not,  should  reside,  eat  and  work 
entirely  by  themselves ;  and  not  meet,  except  on  the  occasion  of 
the  regular  meeting,  say  once  or  twice  a  week.  If  the  Commune 
is  large  enough,  the  married  and  single  of  each  sex,  in  this  stage 
of  experience,  might  again  be  separated.  The  daily  meetings 
for  religion  and  criticism,  should  be  conducted  in  adjoining 
rooms,  one  for  each  sex ;  or  perhaps  entirely  apart. 

But  in  other  stages  of  experience,  and  where  years,  or  knowl 
edge,  or  sanctification,  or  good  early  habits,  will  justify  it,  the 
best  safest  and  happiest  course  will  be,  constant  virtuous  and 
chaste  intercommunings  between  the  sexes.  And  this  is  greatly 
facilitated,  by  intercommunings  between  the  youth  of  one  sex, 
and  the  aged  and  experienced  of  the  other  sex.  In  the  highest 
experience  and  knowledge,  nothing  earthly  contributes  so  much 
to  chastity  of  heart  and  life,  as  the  constant  presence  of  loving 
and  beloved  ones,  of  the  opposite  sex. 

Every  care  should  be  taken  to  retard  precocity  in  children ; 
but  they  should  be  so  trained  to  useful  industry,  as  to  be  fitted 
for  early  marriage.  They  should  also  receive  specific  instruction, 
in  regard  to  those  matters  now  too  often  neglected,  which  in 
struction  is  one  of  the  necessities  of  modern  civilization.  The 
demand  for  early  marriages  is  imperative1  ;  but  they  cannot  be 
either  prudent  or  safe,  except  in  Communism,  wherein  alone 
they  can  be  properly  made  temperate. 

The  great  cause  of  liquor  intemperance,  probably,  is  sexual 
excess.  For  this,  the  only  effectual  cures  would  be,  early  mar 
riages,  and  frequent  temporary  separation  of  the  sexes,  in  Com 
munes  of  mutual  friends. 

Although  freedom  of  sex  is  no  essential  part  of  true  and  per- 


NATURE.    BASES.    FAMILY  AND   SEX. 

feet  Communism,  and  is  not  the  equitable  nor  highest  develop 
ment  of  sex  on  earth ;  nevertheless,  some  part  of  the  world,  in 
its  selfish  attachment  to  fashions,  forms  and  outward  things,  may 
possibly  have  to  pass  through  a  period  of  "  complex  marriage," 
or  even  of  freedom  of  sex,  in  its  transition  to  the  perfect  state 
beyond.  For,  it  may  be  true,  that  nothing  but  the  realization  of 
human  equality,  through  the  all-powerful  bond  of  sex,  will  ever 
enable  the  commonalty  of  Mankind  to  realize  the  truth  of  that 
equality  at  all;  and  perhaps  nothing  else  will  break  up  the 
Family-idolatry  of  children,  and  Family-selfishness  in  general. 
Kence,  the  best  thing  that  can  be  done  to  prevent  "  complex 
marriage "  &c.,  is  to  establish  Communes  with  usual  marriage, 
and  reasonable  divorce,  and  thus  anticipate  against  the  other  de 
velopment.  Fourier  saw  the  coming  evil,  but  not  seeing  its 
final  cause,  he  proposed  to  legitimate  the  evil,  as  a  good,  per 
manently. 

Marriage  should  be  placed  upon  the  plane  of  the  gospel,  and 
upon  morality, and  love;  and  women  and  children  should  be 
protected.  Other  matters  can  safely  be  left  to  moral  suasion, 
and  the  church-principles  of  the  Commune.  The  true  interests 
of  society  call  for  amelioration  of  the  forcing-principle  in  mar 
riage,  as  fast  as  practicable.  These  interests  must  be  the  care 
of  every  Commune ;  especially,  because  the  Family  is  one  of 
the  Six  fundamental  Units  of  society.  All  persons  who  are  on 
the  lookout  to  catch  beaux,  or  girls,  or  to  make  fine  matches, 
in  reliance  upon  the  binding  and  forcing  laws  in  marriage,  are 
entirely  unfit  for  Communism.  But  Communism  presents  a 
remedy,  namely,  the  desirable  peculiarity  of  enabling  divorces  to 
take  place,  without  separating  parents  from  their  children,  and 
without  injuring  the  woman.  So  then,  after  a  Commune  had 
established  a  good  character,  and  shown  that  it  was  able  to 
properly  take  care  of  its  women  and  children,  it  should  be 
granted,  by  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  power  of  divorce  among 
its  own  members.  In  general,  no  divorced  woman  should  be 
expelled,  unless  under  peculiar  reasons,  or  for  peculiar  atrocity ; 
and  should  ever  be  considered  as  a  ward  or  pensioner  of  the 
society — as  a  person  indissolubly  married  to  the  society,  or  as 
its  perpetual  infant  or  ward. 


470  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  XIX. 

CHAP.  XIX.    MANNERS   AND   CUSTOMS. 

In  these;  divine  utility  should  be  the  leading  idea;  mere 
fashions  or  styles,  and  mere  amusements,  whether  bodily  or 
mental,  should  not  be  allowed;  nor  in  dress,  anything  either 
in  shape,  color,  material  or  complexity,  that  is  not  useful.  All 
stimulants,  narcotics  and  gormandizing,  should  be  strongly  dis 
couraged.  Luxury,  finery,  and  emulation,  should  not  be  allowed 
among  resident  members.  Music  and  the  fine  arts  (perhaps  ex 
cept  vocal  music),  should  only  be  encouraged  in  those  having 
special  talent  therefor,  and  as  methods  of  utility  to  others. 

No  one  should  be  encouraged  to  enter  a  Commune  for  any 
selfish  worldly  advantages;  otherwise,  parasites  might  come  in, 
in  oppressive  numbers.  Neither  should  the  prospect  of  ease, 
luxury,  or  amusement,  be  presented  to  induce  any  to  adopt 
Communism.  Economy  and  almost  asceticism  are  necessary, 
for  the  good  of  the  Commune  itself,  and  to  exclude  the  unsuit 
able.  The  admirers  of  beauty  always  overlook  this  policy. 

General  vegetarianism  and  abstemiousness  in  diet,  also  ample 
ventilation,  will  promote  chastity  and  continence.  This  is  proved 
by  the  instincts  and  experience  of  the  Shakers  and  other  celibates; 
and  the  peculiarities  of  old  maids  are  necessary  and  reasonable. 

Criticism,  instead  of  minute  book-keeping,  should  be  applied, 
to  aid  in  determining  the  value  of  each  member's  service,  and 
the  cost  of  his  maintenance,  by  a  system  of  grade  marks.  A 
record  should  be  kept  of  each  member's  grading  of  others,  so 
that  partiality  and  prejudice  in  bad  grading,  could  also  come  under 
criticism. 

There  should  be  some  arrangement  of  different  orders  or  de 
grees,  of  intellect  and  spirit;  but  persons  in  a  lower  degree,  should 
wait  for  promotion,  until  called  to  a  higher. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  delay  the  starting  of  Communities,  until 
men  become  fit  for  entire  equality.  There  might  be  one  kind 
of  Communities  of  "gentlefolks"  with  their  "help/7  and  another 
kind  of  mechanics,  tradesmen,  &c.,  without  any  domestic  help. 
One  of  the  principal  difficulties  in  starting  a  Commune,  is,  in 
regard  to  the  ladies ;  partly  of  inducing  them  to  labor,  which  is 
a  necessity  in  Communes  based  upon  social  equality;  and  partly, 
that  women  make  much  more  of  marriage  than  men,  but  all  like 


NATURE.    BASES.    INDUSTRY.  471 

to  marry  into  a  superior  social  condition.  Therefore,  until  Com 
munes  obtain  the  right  of  divorce,  (arid  the  right  would  prevent 
the  necessity  of  using  it), — these  disparities  of  social  distinction 
seem  necessary  to  be  continued.  The  objection  to  labor  is  founded 
chiefly,  on  a  false  idea  that  there  is  something  socially  degrading 
about  it.  And  the  customs  of  the  Commune  must  break  up  that 
falsity. 

CHAP.  XX.    INDUSTRY. 

We  need  say  but  little  of  industry,  because,  in  successful  Com 
munes,  overwork  has  to  be  criticised  more  than  idleness ;  and  also, 
because  all  the  rules  very  strongly,  though  indirectly,  promote 
industry.  The  thinkers  of  the  Community  especially,  should 
not  be  overworked.  The  Community-life  should  make  labor 
both  honorable  and  attractive;  and  should  not  allow,  either 
persons  or  customs  that  tended  to  degrade  labor. 

Again,  the  necessity  of  labor  varies  with  the  property  of  the 
Commune.  In  this  age,  increased  "  Production"  is  not  the  chief 
want  of  society ;  but  improved  "  Distribution"  of  the  fruits  of 
industry.  Still,  every  person  is  morally  bound  to  be  indus 
trious,  mentally  or  bodily,  in  proportion  to  ability  and  health. 
The  greatest  practical  difficulty  is,  to  induce  members  to  do 
the  unhealthy,  dirty,  and  world-despised  works.  This  may  be 
remedied,  partly  by  banishing  the  worldly  feeling  which  despises 
labor,  and  partly  by  a  higher  rate  of  profits  or  honors,  for  repul 
sive  kinds  of  work;  or  fewer  hours  of  labor,  with  more  hours 
for  literary  culture,  and  even  by  amusements  and  journeys  not 
allowed  to  others  at  all.  But,  if  unskilled  physical  laborers, 
unfit  for  the  higher  industries,  were  unwilling  to  perform  hard 
or  rough  labor,  they  would  thereby  prove  themselves  unfit  for 
Communism.  .  And  if  Communism  was  to  be  absolutely  un 
limited,  there  would  be  no  possibility  of  extra  pay,  for  the  peculiar 
services,  and  no  use  for  such  extra  pay,  to  the  receivers  of  it. 

CHAP.  XXI.    THE   DISPOSITIONS   AND   SOURCES   OF   DANGER. 

The  features  of  human  nature  from  which  all  sin  and  disorder 
arise,  are  self-will,  self-conceit,  and  self-interest.  These  applied  to 
Community-life  require  various  special  precautions, — as  against 
social  or  class  prejudices,  the  forming  of  cliques  of  discontent, 
ambition  %to  rule  in  excess  of  contributions  or  talent,  emulation, 


472  BK-  V.      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I.  II.  XXII. 

vanity,  contrariness,  licentiousness,  alcohol,  gossip,  amusements, 
idleness,  fondness  for  dress,  &c.,  &c.  All  these  sources  of  danger 
combine  in  such  various  proportions,  that  they  cannot  be  pro 
vided  for  in  detail,  but  should  be  guarded  against  as  well  as  may 
be,  when  they  manifest  themselves. 

Those  persons  who  are  most  to  be  dreaded,  and  who  have  been 
most  troublesome  about  money  matters,  in  Communes,  have 
been  those  who  have  contributed  but  limited  amounts,  (from  one 
to  three  thousand  dollars.)  Such  persons,  on  leaving,  often  de 
mand  the  whole  principal  and  also  interest,  besides  wages  for 
their  own  labor.  Large  contributors  do  not  usually  make  any 
such  preposterous  claims. 

CHAP.  XXII.     THE   SELF-SACRIFICE   REQUISITE. 

"  Though  Communism  is  a  precious  thing,  it  has  its  cost,  and 
persons  should  find  out  before  joining,  whether  they  are  willing 
to  pay  the  price.  Joining  the  Community  cuts  a  person  off  from 
such  worldly  ties  and  connections  as  stand  in  the  way  of  im 
provement,  substituting  spiritual  relations  for  merely  natural 
ones.  It  implies  the  giving  up  of  trivial  habits  and  tastes; 
the  sacrifice  of  freedom  to  come  and  go,  ii*resped,ive  of  others ; 
and  the  submitting  of  ambition,  amativenes^,  and  philoprogeni- 
tiveness,  to  a  discipline  which  renders  them  unselfish,  and  obe 
dient  to  science  and  to  God."  *  *  *  "  Joining  the  Community  is 
in  fact  so  far  like  the  '  straight  and  narrow  way7  of  the  gospel, 
that  it  is  intended  to  exclude  all  the  liberty  of  the  old  carnal 
life."  *  *  *  « In  Community  there  is  the  largest  liberty  for  love 
and  generosity,  but  the  smallest  liberty  for  selfishness  and  seek 
ing  one's  own.  But  those  persons  who  enter,  with  their  eye 
mainly  on  private  luxury  and  pleasure-seeking,  are  courting 
special  disappointment.  True  Communism  is  the  worst  hell 
such  persons  can  easily  find.  It  has  nothing  for  them  but  arrest 
and  crucifixion,  till  their  motive  is  changed."  J.  H.  Noyes.  Also 
see  the  writings  of  other  Communists,  whether  marital  or  celibate. 


PRECAUTIONS   AGAINST   INDIVIDUALS   IN   GENERAL.        473 


MAIN  DIVISION  II. 

THE  COMMUNITY'S  PRECAUTIONS  AND 
GUARDS  AGAPNST  INDIVIDUALS. 

SUB-DIVISION   I. 

WAYS    AND    METHODS    OF    PRECAUTION. 
CHAP.  I.    IN   GENERAL. 

The  whole  structure  of  the  Commune  should  take  the  neces 
sary  precautions  for  the  protection  of  itself  and  its  good  mem 
bers  ;  otherwise,  prudent  and  good  men  cannot  easily  be  induced 
to  join.  For,  the  greatest  difficulty  in  Communism,  is  to  get, 
not  members,  but  good  members.  We  have  aimed  to  make  our 
whole  theoretical  structure  a  safeguard  against  probable  dangers : 
— Therefore  this  MAIN  DIVISION  will  be  rather  brief. 

Even  our  third  general  Main  Division — viz., — the  Individual's 
guards  against  the  Community,  acts  indirectly,  but  yet  most 
powerfully,  in  maintaining  the  safety  of  the  Commune ;  for  pru 
dent  and  good  men  cannot  be  easily  induced  to  join  a  Commu 
nity  in  which  their  own  rights  are  not  amply  guarded,  and  means 
taken  to  protect  them  from  injustice,  either  from  the  Community 
or  its  officers.  The  Community  best  protects  itself  by  providing 
ample  protection  from  its  Individual-members ;  thus  presenting 
inducements  to  the  most  prudent  to  join  it,  and  not  presenting 

much  opportunity  for  the  selfish  to  impose  upon  others. 
/ 

CHAP.  II.    BY   CHARTER. 

A  legal  charter  should  be  provided  at  the  outset.  This  will 
tend  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  capitalists,  and  prevent  unjust 
lawsuits  by  outsiders  or  seceders.  It  would  also  tend  to  hold 
the  society  together,  if  there  were  much  property.  Most  of  the 
property  of  any  association  may  be  so  arranged  by  charter,  that 
it  may  be  retained  by  those  members,  however  few,  who  remain 
faithful  to  the  society  and  its  chartered  objects :  but  equity  would 
not  allow  a  Commune  to  push  such  a  rule  too  far. 


474  BK-  v-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      II.  I.  III. 

Charters  might  probably  be  obtained,  granting  incorporation 
to  co-operative  publishing  societies,  or  other  trades,  co-operative 
boarding-houses,  life  and  trust  companies,  beneficial  associations, 
a  Community  church,  or  even  pairs  of  monastic  institutions.  A 
fully  developed  charter  should  contain  a  selection  of  the  powers 
usually  granted  to  each  or  most  of  the  above-named  societies. 

All  donations  and  bequests  to  the  Commune,  and  such  por 
tions  of  their  shares  for  each  stockholder,  as  ought  properly  to 
revert  to  the  Commune  at  death,  and  many  incidentals,  should 
be  bound  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  original  Commune,  under 
the  charter. 

Seceding  shareholders  might  sell  such  shares  as  were  in  ex-, 
cess  of  a  certain  defined  amount;  but  in  a  general  secession, 
shares  would  have  a  very  low  value.  Thus,  the  attempt  of  even 
a  majority,  to  break  up  the  Commune,  might  in  the  end  result  in 
increasing  the  pecuniary  means  of  those  who  remained  faithful. 
But  this  does  not  apply  to  the  equitable  division  of  a  Commune, 
next  to  be  spoken  of. 

Equitable  provision  should  be  made  in  the  charter,  for  a  mi 
nority,  of  reasonable  strength,  to  secede  in  an  orderly  way,  and 
form  themselves  into  an  independent  Community,  taking  their 
full  share  of  property  and  responsibilities.  Because,  if  men  or 
women  in  reasonable  numbers  and  strength,  were  forcibly  re 
strained  from  seceding,  they  would  be  apt  to  find  some  way  to 
break  up  the  Commune,  or  vex  it  greatly. 

CHAP.  III.    SUBSTITUTES    FOR   EXPLICIT   CHARTERS. 

As  it  may  sometimes  occur  that  legal  charters  could  not  be 
obtained,  when  the  objects  were  known,  it  may  then  be  advisable 
to  have  the  affairs  conducted  in  the  name  of,  and  by  trustees, 
legally  constituted.  But  this  is  not  so  safe  from  Individual- 
liability.  In  other  cases  perhaps  it  may  be  advisable  to  obtain 
a  charter  as  a  Life  and  Trust  and  Health  Company,  or  as  a 
Building  Association,  or  as  a  Co-operative  Store,  Factory,  Farm 
or  Boarding-house,  or  other  co-operative  enterprise  for  some 
business  which  the  Community  intends  to  and  will  actually  fol 
low  ;  or,  obtain  several  of  such  charters ;  and  under  such  char 
ters  it  might  also  accomplish  most  of  the  schemes  of  a  worthy 
Commune,  except  divorces.  Also  some  of  the  dangers  may  be 


PRECAUTIONS  AS   TO   APPLICANTS;    PREPARATORY.         475 

guarded  against  by  making  contracts  with  members,  for  full  ser 
vices  at  low  wages,  and  for  incomes  and  loans  at  a  merely  nomi 
nal  interest,  and  signing  a  full  release  in  consideration  of  board 
and  the  other  privileges : — and  by  capitalists  giving  powers  of 
attorney  to  the  trustees  to  collect  income ;  and  so  on.  Nothing 
illegal  is  here  proposed ;  but  only  the  best  legal  methods  and 
counsel  suggested  to  be  sought,  whereby  to  avoid  the  present  un 
natural  and  unjust  difficulties  of  obtaining  corporate  existence. 
See  Corporation. 


SUB-DIVISION  II. 

APPLICATION    AND    RECEPTION    OF    NEW    MEM 
BERS. 

CHAP.  I.    PREPARATORY   STEPS   TOWARDS   MEMBERSHIP. 

Besides  the  regular  members,  there  might  be  allowed  an  out 
side  "  contributing"  membership,  made  up  of  those  giving  not 
less  than  one-tenth  of  their  income.  This  might  be  invested 
either  in  the  common  stock  of  the  association,  or  for  its  life 
insurance  fund,  or  for  the  maintenance  of  its  women  and  chil 
dren.  Not  much  dependence  could  be  placed  on  this  outside 
membership,  although  it  might  often  lead  persons  to  become  full 
members. 

The  applicant  for  regular  membership  should  present,  in 
writing,  an  application  to  be  a  boarder  or  employe,  with  a 
brief  sketch  of  his  life,  and  a  list  of  his  relatives  and  friends, 
— the  object  being,  to  set  forth  the  persons  to  whom  he  refers, 
and  the  opportunities  such  referees  have  had  of  knowing  about 
him. 

Unworthy  persons  are  very  shrewd,  in  concealing  all  refer 
ence  to  the  very  persons  whom  the  society  wants  most  to  see ; 
and  worthy  persons  are  apt  to  overlook  those  whom  it  is  best  to 
see.  Certain  officers  should  be  appointed  to  give  advice  to  ap 
plicants  desiring  admission.  Great  care  is  required  as  to  the 
application ;  because,  after  a  person  knows  that  his  application 
has  been  received  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Commune,  it 
should  then  be  utterly  improper  for  him  to  urge  the  society  any 


476  BK-  v-    LIMITED'  COMMUNISM,    n.  n.  n. 

further  in  regard  to  the  matter,  but  he  should  quietly  await  the 
result, — acceptance,  or  being  dropped,  as  the  case  may  be.  If 
approved,  two  or  a  few  examiners  should  question  the  applicant 
on  his  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  the  society. 

Among  the  terms  of  admission  should  be  the  prescribed  so 
ciety  pledges,  (anti-rum,  anti-tobacco,  &c.)  including  absolute 
abstinence  from  the  betrayal  of  the  rights  of  Family  or  Sex. 
There  should  also  be  pledges  to  prefer  the  Commune  to  any 
other  society  or  social  obligation  (next  to  the  Family),  or  else  to 
notify  the  Commune  immediately  of  any  change  to  the  contrary 
thereof:  and  immediately  to  leave  unless  requested  by  the  Com 
munity  to  remain. 

A  male  over  twelve  years  of  age,  should  seldom  be  received, 
unless  when  he  has  some  very  near  female  relative  received,  either 
at  the  same  time,  or  previously ;  or  when  he  can  deposit  good 
security.  Purity  requires  some  such  rules. 

Excellent  character  should  be  proved,  for  order,  morals,  vir 
tue,  truth,  kindness,  and  reverence ;  also  contentment  with  the 
station  in  life.  He  should  also  prove  non-extravagance,  non- 
use  of  spirits,  tobacco,  or  other  drugs ;  should  believe  in  a  few 
fundamental  religious  principles,  and  in  the  silent  worship,  as 
one  good  method ;  and  resolve  to  obey  all  the  commandments  of 
God,  and  the  order  of  the  Commune. 

Health  reform  is  a  preparation,  and  the  health  reforming 
"  homes"  are  beginnings  and  types  of  the  modes  of  life. 

CHAP.  II.     PROBATIONARY  RESIDENCE  AND  LIFE-EXPERIENCE. 

If  approved,  the  applicant  might  become  a  probationer,  a 
boarder,  a  boarding  scholar,  or  an  employe,  upon  signing  pledges 
of  good  order,  and  upon  depositing  as  security,  such  reasonable 
sum  as  he  could. 

The  applicant  should  not  make  any  request  for  admission, 
during  the  probationary  state.  If  he  tires  in  waiting  the  de 
cision  of  the  society,  he  can  withdraw ;  and  the  society  may 
refund  his  pledges  and  release  him,  say  nine  or  twelve  months 
after  his  withdrawal,  and  after  deducting  charges  and  expenses. 

If  approved  on  probation,  the  member  might  be  invited  to 
a  conference  with  two  or  three  special  officers,  men  of  religious 
experience,  and  of  reliable  secrecy,  to  hear  his  experience  or 
life-statement. 


PRECAUTIONS.     INITIATION.  477 


CHAP.  III.    AFFIRMATIONS,   OATHS   AND   COVENANTS. 

If  the  officers  deem  the  statement  sincere  and  satisfactory, 
they  should  so  report,  and  the  full  pledges  of  the  society  should 
be  presented  and  signed.  The  pledges  should  furthermore  pro 
vide,  that  the  member  will  forever  abstain  from  all  force  and 
law  against  the  society,  or  against  any  member,  for  any  matter 
occurring  during  said  membership ;  and  of  desiring  to  live  a  life 
of  sinless  faith  and  pure  love.  The  pledge  should  also  contain 
a  promise  against  using  any  disorderly  or  tricky  means  against 
the  harmony  of  the  society,  at  any  time,  and  especially  in  case 
of  dissatisfaction  or  desire  to  leave ;  and  if  dissatisfied,  that  he 
will  leave  quietly  and  honorably,  and  that  he  will  faithfully 
endeavor  to  follow  the  rules  of  the  association,  as  long  as  he 
continues  a  member.  'He  should  also  state  briefly,  his  principal 
reasons  for  joining  the  order :  and  should  pledge  that  he  does 
and  will  give  the  claims  of  this  society,  the  preference  over  those 
of  any  other  voluntary  society,  or  Corporation  : — or  failing  in 
that, — will  leave  voluntarily,  unless  requested  by  the  society  to 
remain  notwithstanding. 

He  should  also  pledge  himself  to  have  all  disputes  settled  by 
arbitration  in  the  agreed  manner.  The  pledge  or  covenant 
should  be  made  so  as  to  stand  as  "good  in  law"  as  it  was  possi 
ble  to  be  made,  and  be  as  binding  on  honor  and  conscience  also. 
But  perhaps  bona-fide  loans  (not  being  security  for  good  be 
havior)  to  the  association,  might  be  excepted  from  these  terms 
of  the  covenant  for  arbitration. 

A  sealed  agreement  should  be  made  in  regard  to  all  children 
entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  society,  that  their  parents  do  and 
will  bind  them  to  the  association,  to  the  full  ages  allowed  by  law, 
or  else  repay  to  the  association  all  costs  and  charges,  before  taking 
them  away. 

CHAP.  IV.    ACTUAL   INITIATION. 

After  taking  the  oath  or  affirmation,  and  agreement,  the  ap 
plicant  should  subscribe  and  pay,  for  as  many  shares  of  stock  as 
had  been  agreed  upon. 

The  actual  admission  of  every  member  should  be  under  a  ritual 
and  set  form,  and  with  the  solemnity  of  marriage,  or  of  joining 
church.  In  the  rites,  the  general  pledges  of  the  member  (above 


478  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      II.  II.  V. 

mentioned)  should  be  read,  and  avowed  by .  him  in  detail.  The 
rite  and  form  ought  to  contain  plain  and  artless  solemnities,  cal 
culated  to  discourage  unsuitable  persons  from  joining.  Higher 
grades  of  membership  and  initiation,  might  be  provided  for 
afterwards,  if  desired.  And  the  pledges  should  be  "  upon  honor" 
as  well  as  upon  conscience  and  religion. 

CHAP.  V.    DISCEENMENT   OF   CHARACTER. 

In  this  sort  of  judgment,  the  instinctive  spirit  of  God  must 
perhaps  be  mainly  looked  to,  for  guidance.  Every  religious 
society  is  bound  to  do  good  to  others;  and  therefore,  a  real  will 
ingness  on  the  part  of  the  applicant,  to  receive  good  influences, 
is  worthy  of  some  consideration. 

It  will  probably  be  found,  that  some  members  can  detect 
some  spiritual  characteristics;  whilst  others,  again,  can  detect 
other  spiritual  characteristics.  The  signs  of  human  character, 
as  set  forth  in  Phrenology  and  Physiognomy,  also  in  gait,  dress, 
manners,  handwriting,  &c.,  should  be  studied.  But  a  scientific 
knowledge  of  human  nature  is  yet  unattained ;  and  many  of  the 
worst  persons  can  make  themselves  very  agreeable.  The  study 
of  human  nature  belongs  to  that  part  of  our  science  which  we 
call  "  The  Individual." 

CHAP.  VI.    INSTRUCTION   NEEDED   CONCERNING   COMMUNISM. 

Communism  is  so  entirely  different  from  the  worldly  life,  that 
it  can  be  understood  only  as  a  collective  whole.  It  is  difficult 
to  enable  even  religious  people  to  understand  the  peculiar  na 
ture  of  religious  Communities.  The  Fourierite  and  Socialistic 
schemes  are  apt  to  be  understood.  Then,  either  materialistic 
economies,  or  spiritualistic  licentiousness,  are  chiefly  expected. 

All  human  institutions,  even  the  worst,  contain  equilibrata  or 
balancing  powers.  Persons  brought  up  from  childhood,  in  good 
Communities,  would  understand  and  appreciate  these  balancing 
powers,  and  mutual  advantages ;  but  other  persons  would  need 
to  have  pretty  thorough  and  deep  instruction  about  them, — an 
instruction  nearly  as  new  and  great,  as  converts  from  heathenism 
need,  in  regard  to  Christianity  itself.  Everything  is  so  different 
from  their  preconceived  ideas,  that  one  scarcely  knows  where  to 
-begin  the  explanation. 


TESTS.      CHOICE-COMBINATIONS    OF   VIRTUES.  479 

Among  the  best  means  of  diffusing  the  true  light  on  these 
subjects ;  one,  would  be  the  composition  of  CATECHISMS  OF 
COMMUNISM,  giving  synoptical  views  of  the  main  principles. 
The  answers  should  be  simple,  yet  comprehensive.  Another 
means  would  be  New  Testaments,  with  revisions  and  comments 
as  the  new  light  requires;  so  that  Christians  may  prove  and 
confirm  these  deeply  scriptural  ideas,  by  their  daily  devotional 
readings. 

CHAP.  VII.    SUMMARY   OF   PRECAUTIONS. 

The  Community's  principal  protection  from  unsafe  applica 
tions,  will  probably  be  found,  in  adhering  with  great  closeness, 
to  a  purely  moral  and  religious  basis ;  yet  making  that  basis  sit 
closely  upon  Natural  Theology,  and  upon  the  practical  "  mystic" 
(so-called),  that  is,  the  interior  life. 

In  examining  applicants,  the  object  is  to  judge  of  their  fit 
ness.  The  examinations  should  be  searching,  and  contain  cross- 
examinations  ;  remembering,  that  what  persons  are  least  willing 
to  have  discussed,  are  the  very  things  that  the  society  is  aiming 
to  find  out,  namely,  the  worst  faults.  But  persons  without  faults, 
are  not  to  be  expected.  The  great  difficulty  is,  that  while  rewards 
ought  to  be  ready  for  the  devoted,  yet  the  knowledge  thereof 
would  open  the  way  to  pretenders.  We  would  obviate  this, 
by  not  making  direct  devotion  either  to  God  or  the  Community,  a 
practical  test ;  but  by  endeavoring  to  find  a  few  easy,  yet  strong 
tests ;  and  by  having  customs  in  the  Commune,  which  would  be 
distasteful  to  seekers  of  worldliness  or  selfish  pleasures,  but  de 
sirable  and  helpful  to  the  earnestly  devoted  ones. 


SUB-DIVISION    III. 

GENERAL    TESTS  AND  QUALIFICATIONS. 
CHAP.  I.    CHOICE-COMBINATIONS   OF   VIRTUES. 

§  1.  Harmony  of  Kindness  and  Truth. 

The  particular  point  of  this  chapter,  is,  to  select  such  peculiar 
combinations  of  virtues,  as  will  prove  the  most  excellence,  from 
the  fewest  number  of  elementary  virtues  in  the  combination. 


480  BK-  V-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      II.  III.  I. 

The  point  now  is,  not  so  much,  that  the  single  virtues  here 
brought  together,  would,  if  taken  separately,  be  pre-eminent 
above  all  others ;  but  that  the  peculiar  combination  of  them  in 
the  same  Individual,  is  what  is  so  rare,  and  so  convincing. 

Let  us  take  as  our  first  combination,  the  co-existence  of  kind 
ness  and  truth.  The  whole  gospel  is  summed  up  by  St.  John, 
into  grace  and  truth.  Grace  implies  love  to  man,  and  at  least 
reverence  to  God.  And  these  two  are  desired  to  be  found  co 
existing  with  an  uncommon  degree  of  truthfulness.  But  in  the 
world,  kind  people  are  very  apt  to  be  insincere  and  untrue ; 
whilst  truthful  people  are  apt  to  be  rough,  harsh  and  unfeeling. 
But  when  the  two  co-exist,  there  is  a  desired  and  rare  combina 
tion  of  virtues. 

§  2.  Doing  to  and  Expecting  from  Others,  as  We  would  They 
should  do,  as  to  Us. 

This  rule  requires  a  harmony  of  soul  between  our  expecta 
tions  from  others,  and  our  degree  of  readiness  to  fulfill  our  du 
ties  to  them.  Most  all  of  the  tests  expressing  harmony  and 
balance,  between  things  which  are  generally  out  of  balance,  are 
very  strong  ;  so  that  one  or  two  of  those  harmonies  seem  to  ex 
press  a  person's  fitness  for  the  first  steps  of  Communism.  In 
the  world,  those  who  expect  the  most,  fulfill  the  least. 
§  3.  Attention  to  Inward  Character,  together  with  the  Outward. 

Another  test  is,  whether  a  person  is  seeking  to  improve  only 
his  outward  life,  or  that,  and  his  inward  life  also.  This  can  be 
determined  in  a  brief  way,  (as  a  general  thing),  only  by  the 
candid  statements  of  the  applicant  himself.  But  time  will  re 
veal  even  this. 

§  4.   Combination  of  Purity  and  Humility. 

Another  pair  of  tests  is,  sexual  purity  together  with  spiritual 
humility.  Earnest  religious  people  often  err,  by  escaping  from 
sins  against  one  of  these,  to  sins  against  the  other  one.  But  it 
is  useless  to  speak  of  these  things  by  particulars. 

§  5.  Intellectual  Appreciation  and  Affection,  both  needed. 

The  Communist  should  have  high  intellectual  appreciation, 
either  of  the  moral  principles  of  the  Commune,  or  else  of  the 
personal  character  of  its  members,  especially  of  its  leaders.  He 
should  also  have  one  active  emotional  love,  either  for  the  moral 
principles  of  the  Commune,  or  for  its  chief  members.  He  should 


TESTS.     DISCONNECTED    QUALITIES.  431 

also  be  found  to  have,  both,  one  intellectual  and  one  emotional 
preparation ;  that  is,  if  he  loves  the  persons  engaged,  he  should 
appreciate  the  principles ;  or  if  he  only  appreciates  the  persons, 
he  should  love  the  principles,  at  the  first. 
§  6.  Attachment  to  the  Spirit,  and  Detachment  from  the  Form. 

One  rare  combination  of  good  qualities,  is,  attachment  to  the 
spirit,  and  detachment  from  the  form.  Persons  who  have  a 
blind  attachment  to  forms  and  ceremonies,  could  succeed  only 
in  such  a  Community  as  was  composed  of  persons  of  the  sanie 
denomination,  and  that,  too,  a  pretty  formal  one.  Other  persons 
are  apt  to  neglect,  both  the  form  and  the  spirit.  What  marks 
the  man  fit  for  the  best  Christian  society,  is  a  combination  of 
attachment  to  the  spirit  and  detachment  from  the  letter :  not 
scrupulousness  in  little  things,  with  carelessness  about  the  great 
matters  of  duty. 

§  7.  Solitude  and  Sociability. 

Most  great  and  good  men,  and  most  of  the  ancient  Commu 
nities,  exhibit  much  of  this  valuable  combination,  namely  soli 
tude  and  sociability;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  successful 
modern  ones,  generally.  Solitude  is  sought  because  it  is  quiet, 
and  favorable  to  spiritual  rest  and  growth,  and  to  the  soul's 
communings  with  God,  and  to  hearing  His  voice  within.  But 
the  solitude,  that  is  thus  valuable,  comes  not  from  misanthropy, 
or  scorn,  or  secret  designs  on  our  fellow-beings ;  and  consequently, 
appreciates  society  when  thrown  into  it,  and  is  quite  congenial. 
It  realizes  the  full  advantages  and  enjoyments  of  morally  good 
society,  and  all  the  more,  as  change  from  habitual  solitude.  It 
is  particularly  marked,  by  enjoying  society  itself,  without  conver 
sation,  and  by  mere  sympathy,  instinct,  and  company-presence: 
yet  loves  to  listen  as  well  as  talk,  not  chiefly  for  knowledge  to 
accomplish  designs,  but  for  love  of  seeing  and  helping  others  to 
enjoy  themselves. 

CHAP.  II.    DISCONNECTED   TESTS. 

§  1.  Insincerity  purged  by  Secession  in  Communism. 

Sincerity  is  to  be  proved,  by  willingness  to  endure  the  frowns 

of  fortune,  or  the  contempt  of  the  world.     The  history  of  the 

world  shows,  that  nearly  all  progress  has  been,  by  revolutions 

against  established  prejudices,  and  against  religious  governments, 

31 


482  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      II.  III.  II. 

— by  revolutions,  whether  physical  or  moral,  led  by  small  bands 
of  enthusiasts.  The  most  successful  means  of  progress  thus  far, 
have  been  the  formation  of  new  and  despised  bands  of  earnest 
spiritual  men,  with  new  ideas.  But  in  proportion  as  rulers  and 
majorities  rely  more  on  moral  suasion,  and  less  on  force ;  just  so, 
may  we  indulge  hope  of  the  dawn  of  a  new  era.  A  Community 
therefore  should  allow  and  provide  for  reasonable  secessions. 

One  good  way  to  hinder  secessions,  is  to  endeavor  to  correct 
its  own  faults,  and  to  perfect  the  Commune,  and  ever  to  keep  it 
open  for  progress  and  improvement.  But  the  way  must  be  left 
open  for  new  Communes  to  separate  from  the  old,  on  equitable 
terms. 

§  2.  Freedom  from  Selfish  Prejudices. 

Another  general  test  of  fitness,  is,  finding  persons  who  have 
nearly  overcome  the  prejudices  peculiar  to  their  own  locality, 
sex,  or  class  of  society, — also  their  church,  and  political  party. 
This  test  is  more  certain,  when  such  freedom  is  the  result  of 
humility,  and  of  respect  and  affection  for  Mankind  ;  and  is  not 
misanthropy.  Such  men  will  of  course  be  rather  cosmopolitan 
and  "  unfashionable." 

§  3.    Virtuous  Habits  Independently  of  seeking  Communism. 

Another  test  is,  that  the  applicant,  before  entering  a  Commune, 
should  have  an  established  character  for  the  principal  habits  or 
virtues  necessary,  so  far  as  virtues  are  easily  attainable  in  the 
usual  state  of  society. 
§  4.   Continual  Aim  for  Individual-Improvement  in  All  Things. 

This  is  another  general  test ;  and  this  tendency  in  the  Indi 
vidual,  strives  to  do  things  PEKFECTLY.  The  habit  of  en 
deavoring  to  improve,  must  however,  be  carefully  distinguished 
from  that  concealed  effort  to  rule,  and  to  be  great,  which  is  apt 
to  assume  and  counterfeit  the  real  virtue  of  improvement. 
§  5.  Personal  Compatibility. 

Another  test  is,  compatibility  of  temper  with  those  already 
constituting  the  Commune ;  for  persons  may  possess  great  vir 
tues,  and  yet  not  be  compatible  for  intimate  association.  The 
degree  of  incompatibility  can  only  be  ascertained  by  practical 
acquaintance ;  and  this  might  be  obtained,  either  by  boarding  in 
a  co-operative  boarding-house,  or  by  transacting  business  with 
members  of  the  Commune,  as  special  partners. 


TESTS.    DISCONNECTED    QUALITIES.  483 

§  6.   Obedience. 

Nothing  can  compensate  for  incompatibility,  except  reverence 
for  and  obedience  to  the  Commune ;  and  personal  good  temper, 
in  the  Individual.  The  three  great  requisites  of  the  Roman 
orders  are,  chastity,  poverty,  and  obedience.  In  modern  times, 
unselfishness  will  stand  instead  of  poverty ;  married  virtue  and 
moderation  will  fulfill  chastity ;  but  nothing  can  be  a  substitute 
for  obedience.  Some  persons  might  be  admitted,  who  would 
enter  a  Commune  as  good  pupils,  willing  to  obey  discipline,  and 
desirous  to  learn.  To  such,  a  suitable  Commune  would  be  the 
best  of  schools.  It  would  be  a  real  UNIVERSITY. 
§  7.  Contentment. 

As  contentment  is  one  of  the  primal  virtues,  able  to  fit  men 
for  Communism,  it  must  happen  that  people's  desire  for  Com 
munism  will  generally  be  in  the  inverse  proportion  to  their  fit 
ness  for  it.  Hence  candidates  must  be  sought  out  and  called, 
even  as  Jesus  called  his  first  followers,  namely,  singly  and  in 
particular.  St.  John  says,  Jesus  "  knew  what  was  in  man." 
Doubtless  Jesus  was  a  superior  and  instinctive  judge  of  human 
and  Individual  character.  And  to  this,  probably,  was  owing 
much  of  his  success.  Children  and  men  of  childlike  disposi 
tion,  are  often  very  superior  instinctive  judges  of  character. 
Nor  is  fche  final  desertion  by  Judas,  any  proof  of  mistake  by 
Jesus:  for  Judas  probably,  until  a  very  late  period  of  Jesus' 
career,  was  "  the  right  man  in  the  right  place."  And  Dr.  Adam 
Clarke  thinks  that  Judas  was  finally  "  saved."  But  we  cannot 
accept  that,  in  the  sense  the  Dr.  meant  it. 

§  8.  Living  according  to  Utility. 

A  life  that  is  really  guided  according  to  utility,  manifests  that 
important  qualification,  in  several  ways.  The  person  acts  and 
performs  and  loves, — and  judges  things  and  persons,  according 
as  they  act  and  perform  and  love, — in  accordance  with  utility, 
— and  not  in  accordance  with  mere  "looks,"  or  appearances. 
Beauty  that  cannot  prove  its  high  utility,  will  have  but  small 
favor  in  his  eyes. 

Such  a  life  must  necessarily  be  founded  upon,  or  be  accom 
panied  by,  a  strong  Desire  to  be  Useful.  This  desire  to  be 
useful,  is  one  of  the  great  tests  of  fitness  for  Communism ;  and 
manifests  itself  in  taking  voluntarily  and  contentedly,  whatever 


484  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      II.  III.  II. 

position  a  person's  character,  and  past  deeds,  intellectual  and 
moral,  qualify  him  for.  But  persons  "  brimful"  of  the  theory, 
that  all  are  equal,  of  all  sexes  and  ages  and  conditions ;  but  who 
have  no  superiority  in  learning,  talents  or  wealth,  ought  to  be 
kindly  admonished  that  they  would  not  feel  themselves  at  home 
in  a  Community ;  or  if  they  would,  nobody  else  in  it,  would. 
§  9.  Doing  Unpleasant  Duties. 

The  habit  of  present  self-denial,  for  greater  future  gratifica 
tion,  is  a  good  sign ;  as  it  exhibits  the  self-providing  faculties  at 
work  in  the  right  direction.  The  Commune  should  be  specially 
informed  of  the  particulars,  in  which  the  applicant  has  been  in 
the  habit  of  cheerfully  performing  unpleasant  duties.  Duty- 
seekers,  not  pleasure-seekers,  are  who  are  wanted. 
§  10.  Purity  of  Bodily  Health. 

A  strong  test  of  fitness,  is  the  existence  of  general  and  habit 
ual  fair  health,  or  at  least  freedom  from  positively  foul  diseases ; 
yet  without  rough  robustness.  This  purity,  when  truly  a  Chris 
tian  virtue,  is  connected  with  diminishing  faith  in  Doctors  or 
medicines,  and  with  increasing  faith  in  the  curative  power  of 
resignation  and  obedience.  Some  have  called  it  the  prayer-cure 
or  the  faith-cure. 

§11.  Applicants  to  Agree  with  the  Proposed  Society,  more  than 
with  Any  Other. 

As  before  said,  all  the  qualifications  for  a  Communist,  are 
well  summed  up  by  that  eminent  Catholic,  "Father  Baker," 
saying,  that  "  he  is  fit  for  a  Community,  who  follows  the  object 
of  it,  by  living  according  to  the  spirit  of  it."  Hence,  when  it 
can  be  shown  that  any  Community  is  nearest  to  .the  views  and 
aims  of  the  applicant,  then  there  is  strong  ground  to  believe, 
that  the  duty  of  the  Commune  is  to  receive  him. 
§  12.  Tests  should  be  Stringent  in  Proportion  to  Intellect  of  Ap 
plicant. 

Much  more  correctness  should  be  required  in  the  Doctrines  of 
Morals,  of  Christianity,  and  of  Communism,  of  persons  whose 
ambition  and  education  cause  them  to  lead  others,  than  of  un- 
influential  persons.  It  would  however  be  an  error,  to  allow  less 
strict  actual  morality,  in  the  subaltern,  or  in  any.  As  to  morality, 
all  must  be  equal  before  ITS  demands.  For  further  suggestions 
see  pp.  70  to  76. 


TESTS.     SPECIAL  AND   RESERVED.  435 

CHAP.  III.    OF   SPECIAL  TESTS. 

There  are  a  large  number  of  special  tests,  some  examples  of 
which  might  be  given,  if  there  were  time  and  convenience ;  but 
it  would  not  be  desirable  for  any  Commune  to  give  to  the  public, 
too  minute  a  description  of  its  tests,  as  that  might  assist  para 
sites  to  counterfeit  or  pretend  to  them,  and  thus  to  obtain  wrong 
entrance  into  it.  Besides,  these  special  tests  would  vary,  according 
to  the  varied  aims  of  the  Association. 

We  will  only  give  some  suggestions,  as  to  the  number  and 
classification  of  these  special  tests  now  spoken  of. 

Of  the  two  sexes,  no  doubt  remains  of  their  distinctness  in 
many  traits  of  character.  As  to  ages,  three  classes  can  be  con 
sidered;  viz.,  (1)  youths  below  puberty,  without  completed  edu 
cation  ;  (2)  persons  in  the  prime  of  life ;  (3)  persons  in  the  decline 
of  life,  who  are  looking  forward  to  a  state  of  dependence  on 
others.  Then,  as  regards  social  position,  we  cannot  count  less 
than  three  classes ;  viz.,  (1)  those  who  employ  domestic  help ; 
(2)  those  who  are  the  domestic  helpers ;  (3)  and  those  who  are 
neither,  but  who  live  an  independent  or  semi-civilized  sort  of  a 
life ;  doing  their  own  work,  but  not  the  work  of  any  one  else.  All 
of  these  classes  may  be  more  or  less  sub-divided ;  and  the  various 
sub-divisions  would  range  from  thirty  to  sixty;  and  might  be 
considered  under  the  head  of  "  Social  Circle." 

The  moderate  consideration  of  all  the  tests,  should  occupy  the 
attention  of  the  leaders  of  any  progressive  movement ;  and  the 
substance  of  them  should  be  written  and  preserved  among  the 
oldest  and  best  tried  leaders^  The  possession  of  such  knowl 
edge  should  be  held  as  sacred,  as,  of  other  family-secrets,  and 
also  be  secured  by  covenants  "good"  in  religion,  in  honor,  and 
"in  law." 

CHAP.  IV.    PRACTICAL  SIMPLICITY   COMING   OUT  OF  THIS 
MULTIPLICITY. 

In  regard  to  each  of  these  different  classes,  it  is  quite  probable 
that  there  might  easily  be  pointed  out,  a  few  virtues,  that  would 
fully  prove  the  Individuals  in  that  class  to  be 'fit  for  Com 
munism,  which  would  not  at  all  prove  fitness  in  other  classes. 
And  so  also,  one  or  a  few  vices  might  be  pointed  out,  that  \vould 


486  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.     II.    III.  IV. 

evidently  betoken  unfitness  in  one  class,  that  would  not  be  con 
clusive  proofs  for  unfitness  in  the  other  classes. 

Thus  it  will  be  observed,  that  both  here  when  we  seek  Special 
Tests,  as  well,  as  before,  when  seeking  the  General  Tests,  we 
aim  to  find  one,  or  a  few  tests,  which  shall  alone  be  sufficient 
for  the  particular  Individual-person  to  whom  they  are  to  be 
applied.  Thus  we  avoid  requiring  ourselves  to  enter  into  an 
almost  endless  examination  of  details :  and  out  of  multiplicity, 
aim  to  bring  simplicity;  and  out  of  width  of  theory,  aim  to 
bring  directness  of  practical  application. 


GUARDS   AGAINST   THE   COMMUNE.  437 


MAIN    DIVISION    III. 

THE    INDIVIDUAL'S   GUARDS   AND   PRO 
TECTION   AGAINST   THE   COMMUNE. 

SUB-DIVISION    I. 
FROM    THE   COMMUNE    AS    A    SOCIETY. 

CHAP.  I.     GENERAL   APPLICATION   TO  THIS   USE,   OF   ALL   THE 
FOREGOING  TREATISE. 

All  that  has  been  said  before,  in  this  article  headed  "  Limited 
Communism,"  may  be  re-read  with  this  object,  namely, — to  see 
how  far  this  security  is  guarded.  The  General  IDEA,  and  The 
FOUNDATIONS  of  the  Commune,  should  -both  provide  protection 
for  the  Individual,  as  well  as  for  the  Commune.  Hence  this 
Third  MAIN  DIVISION  will  be  very  brief. 

There  should  be  a  suitable  and  legal  charter,  and  a  paid-up 
capital,  as  in  other  human  Corporations.  Such  things  constitute 
a  security  against  the  non-success  of  the  association,  and  against 
fraudulent  Individuals. 

If  the  Commune  is  successful  in  protecting  itself  from  im 
proper  members,  it  will,  in.  itself,  possess  a  character  and  an  ex 
cellence,  furnishing  a  strong  security  for  Individual-rights.  The 
Commune  must,  as  before  said,  also  furnish  adequate  facility  for 
reasonable  secession.  This  itself  is  one  of  the  strongest  protec 
tions  of  Individuals  and  of  minorities.  Even  expulsion  should 
never  forfeit  any  member's  property,  further  than  for  actual  ex 
penses,  damages,  or  other  liabilities.  No  member  should  be 
tried  by  any  rule  or  principle,  which  he  had  not  previously  as 
sented  to ;  nor  which  he  dissents  from,  if  within  a  reasonable 
time  after  its  adoption,  he  protests,  and  gives  notice  of  his  in 
tention  to  withdraw  on  account  of  it. 

The  whole  organization  of  the  Commune,  should  give  evi 
dence  that  it  does  not  want  property,  but  persons,  and  affec 
tions;  and  that  it  even  does  not  want  them  in  a  selfish  way. 


488  BK-  v-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      III.  II.  I. 

The  rights  and  feelings  of  all,  must  be  respected.  A  Commune 
should  not  allow  any  of  such  coercive  power  over  inmates,  pre 
venting  their  withdrawal,  as  is  said  to  be  exercised  by  some 
Communities.  Coercion  or  force  is  against  one  of  our  first  prin 
ciples,  and  against  the  first  principles  of  unselfishness. 

The  Commune  should  aim,  in  principle,  to  be  like  a  large 
Christian  FAMILY,  where  benevolence  and  mutual  good  feel 
ings,  hold  all  together  voluntarily,  and  cheerfully.  Care  must 
be  taken  against  the  love  of  power,  or  exercising  it  for  its  own 
sake. 


SUB-DIVISION    II. 

PROTECTION    OF    THE    INDIVIDUAL-MEMBERS 

FROM   THE    RULERS    AND    OFFICERS, 

AS    PERSONS. 

CHAP.  I.     EACH    OF  THE    DIFFERENT  POWEES    SHOULD   HAVE 
ITS  SHARE   OF   OFFICERS. 

The  principal  danger  is  from  improper  officers,  or  from  their 
improper  conduct.  Quite  often,  the  worst  men  get  the  highest 
offices.  The  chief  prevention  is,  forming  a  government  of  sepa 
rate  parts,  so  that  each  of  those  parts  shall  represent  different 
rights,  and  different  interests;  not  a  balance  of  legalities,  but  a 
balance  of  powers. 

CHAP.  II.     OFFICERS    SHOULD    BE    SUPERIOR   IN    THE   SPECIAL 

VIRTUES. 

Of  course,  all  the  virtues  specially  fitting  for  Communism, 
should  be  found  in  the  officers,  in  a  high  degree.  Probably  the 
special  religious  organizations  Avithin  the  Commune,  might  be 
allowed  simply  a  veto  on  all,  or  on  some,  movements  or  laws. 
But  it  would  be  unwise  to  allow  any,  or  much,  direct  legislation, 
or  many  appointments,  to  be  made  by  the  church-power. 

CHAP.  III.     THE   GOVERNMENT   OF  THE   OFFICERS   SHOULD   BE 
VIRTUAL,   BEFORE   IT   IS   FORMAL. 

If  the  Commune  succeed  in  obtaining  a  sufficient  proportion 
of  suitable  members,  they  would  produce  a  feeling  and  a  tend- 


GUARDS.     OFFICERS'  VIRTUES   SPECIFIED.  439 

ency,  to  love  and  honor  the  influence  of  the  most  suitable  per 
sons.  Thus  the  good  and  the  wise  would  be  virtually  and 
morally  the  leaders,  before  they  were  officially  so. 

CHAP.  IV.     GENERAL   LIST   OF   THE   VIRTUES   REQUIRED. 

Good  leaders  should  possess  most  of  the  following  qualifica 
tions  : — able  in  the  criticism  of  Individual-character ;  not  given 
to  their  own  crotchets;  able  to  brook  opposition  charitably; 
averse  to  all  kinds  of  evil;  parental  in  their  rule,  self-sacri 
ficing,  free  from  the  lust  of  rule ;  acquainted,  themselves,  with 
many  sorrows ;  free  contributors  to  the  Commune ;  who  really 
seek  assistants  devoted  to  the  Commune's  special  ideas ;  prompt 
to  welcome  other  leaders ;  fond  of  personal  improvement ;  pre 
viously  successful  in  obtaining  virtuous  distinction ;  humble,  un 
selfish,  and  desirous  of  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  according 
to  the  will  of  God. 

CHAP.  V.    KNOWLEDGE   OF  SOCIAL   SCIENCE. 

As  Communism  is  the  quintessence  of  all  Social  Science; 
therefore  a  highly  important  test  for  the  leaders  of  thought,  is 
leadership  in,  and  a  competent  knowledge  of,  the  fundamental 
principles  of  Social  Science ;  and,  even  for  the  executive  officers, 
a  common  sense  instinctive  knowledge  of  this  science,  is  needed, 

CHAP.  VI.    OFFICERS  SHOULD   BE   TALENTED   IN    SELECTING 
NEW   MEMBERS. 

The  most  important  and  difficult  work,  is,  to  select  new  mem 
bers.  It  will  not  do  for  officers  or  examiners  to  adhere  to  an 
exact  and  lengthy  code  of  rules.  Neither  should  they  proceed 
utterly  without  rules.  Choosing  applicants  by  the  light  of  gen 
eral  rules,  selected  according  to  the  foregoing  tests,  to  be  per 
sonally  applicable,  seems  to  be  the  medium.  Some  of  the  leaders 
should  be  men  of  wide  and  cosmopolitan  sympathies,  even  about 
religion, — in  order  to  fit  them  for  selecting.  Because,  as  yet, 
Romanism,  Buddhism,  and  crotchety  and  liberal  Christianity, 
have  practically  done  more  for  Communism,  than  our  common 
or  general  evangelical  Protestantism. 

Most  or  all  of  the  Protestant  Communes  have  been  too  re 
strictive,  and  too  selfish ;  so  that  some  have  already  become  mere 


490  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.        III.  II.  VII. 

fossils ;  and  perhaps  only  two  of  them  are  on  the  increase.  But 
yet,  it  would  seem,  that  their  frequent  efforts  to  open  their  doors 
more  liberally  to  new  members,  have  endangered  their  own  peace, 
or  continuity.  This  proves  the  great  need  of  more  talent  in  the 
selecting  of  new  members,  or  else  the  need  of  more  social  science, 
or  of  both. 

CHAP.  VI}.    THE   ERA   PRODUCING   THE   BEST   LEADERS,   HAS 
NOT   YET   COME. 

As  the  leaders  of  the  successful  Communes,  have  nearly  all 
been  theologians,  it  is  not  necessary  to  commend  theology  as  a 
fit  preparation  for  them ;  yet  the  leaders  should  be  well  trained 
in  Social  Science  also.  But  as  this  science  has  not  yet  attained 
much  definiteness,  nor  complete  development,  it  is  hardly  pos 
sible  that  thoroughly  competent  leaders  could  yet  arise.  There 
fore,  Communities  ought  not  to  be  discouraged  by  the  failure  of 
many  immature  experiments.  The  duty  is  to  walk  by  faith.  A 
Commune  that  "walks  by  sight  but  not  by  faith,"  and  a  selfish 
Commune,  can  never  become  of  much  use,  except  as  special 
examples  or  illustrations  of  some  special  principles  or  methods. 


USES.    SCRIPTURE-TEACHINGS.  49} 


MAIN   DIVISION   IV. 

USES,  INCLUDING  ARGUMENTS  AND 
STATISTICS  OF  COMMUNISM. 

SUB-DIVISION  I. 

ARGUMENTS  FROM   SCRIPTURE. 

CHAP.  I.    TEACHINGS   IN  SCRIPTURE. 

St.  Paul  says,  "  Set  your  affections  on  things  above,  and  not 
on  things  on  the  earth." 

Christ  taught,  in  Matthew,  chap,  vi.,  "  Lay  not  up  for  your 
selves  treasures  on  earth,  for  where  your  treasure  is,  there  will 
your  heart  be  also."  "Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon." 
In  Luke  xii.,  "  Provide  for  yourselves  bags  which  wax  not  old, 
a  treasure  in  the  heavens,  that  faileth  not."  Also  in  Luke  ix. 
23  and  24,  we  find,  "  whosoever  will  save  his  life,  shall  lose  it ; 
but  whosoever  will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake,  [and  the  gospel's] 
the  same  shall  find  it.  For  what  is  a  man  advantaged,  if 
he  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  himself,  or  be  cast  away?" 
And  in  Matthew  xix.  21,  22,  "Jesus  said"  unto  the  rich  young 
man,  "  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  that  thou  hast,  and 
give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven ;  and 
come  and  follow  me.  But  when  the  young  man  heard  that  say 
ing,  he  went  away  sorrowful,  for  he  had  great  possessions."  See 
also  Luke  xvi.  19  to  31,  concerning  Dives  and  Lazarus. 

The  sermon  on  the  mount,  and  many  other  of  Jesus7  dis 
courses  and  sayings  and  injunctions,  seem  applicable  only  to  a 
true  Christian  Commune ;  and  such  is  what  Jesus  seems  to  have 
had  in  his  mind,  frequently,  under  the  term  kingdom  of  God : 
an  ideal,  which  seems  to  underlie  the  teachings  and  discourses 
of  his  whole  life,  generally ;  and  this  explanation,  at  once  turns 
his  apparently  wildest  figures,  into  real  and  tangible  directions 
for  a  new  practical  life.  See  Kenan's  Life  of  Jesus,  chap.  xix. 
And  then,  as  "  The  Circular"  has  shown,  the  "  Lord's  prayer" 


492  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  I.  I. 

is  essentially  Communistic.  OUR  father — THY  kingdom  come 
— AS  in  heaven  so  on  earth — Give  us  daily  bread  (not  wealth  but 
sharing  income) — Lead  us  not  into  temptation — Deliver  us  from 
evil  (this  evil  world,  also). 

St.  Paul  (2  Cor.  vi.  17  and  18),  combines  together  several 
passages  from  the  Old  Testament,  into  one  grand  climax,  thus ; 
— "  Wherefore  come  out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate, 
saith  the  Lord;  and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing;  and  I  will 
receive  you;  and  will  be  a  Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my 
sons  and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty." 

St.  Paul,  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles ;  that  is,  to  all  the  world 
besides  the  Jews,  and  therefore,  to  us, — is  the  best  commentator 
upon  Jesus.  Accordingly,  the  foregoing  words  of  the  Apostle, 
are  the  best  commentary  ever  yet  written,  on  those  wonderful 
words  of  Jesus,  about  the  ever  blessed  virgin,  his  mother ;  and 
his  (so  called)  "brethren."  See  Matth.  xii.  49  and  50.  Mk.  iii. 
34  and  35.  And  Luke  viii.  21 :— "  And  he  stretched  forth  his 
hand  toward  his  disciples,  and  said ;  Behold,  my  mother  and 
my  brethren!  For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father 
who  is  in  Heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister,  and 
mother."  These  passages  give  the  marrow  of  the  whole  subject, 
namely,  the  true  Christian  and  Limited  Commune,  is  a  FAMILY 
of  associated  disciples.  And  this  reminds  us  of  that  other  beau 
tiful  passage  of  St.  Paul,  Eph.  iii.  15: — "Of  whom  the  whole 
FAMILY  in  Heaven  and  Earth  is  named."  And  still  more 
politico-governmental  is  the  passage,  Eph.  ii.  19: — "Now  there 
fore  ye  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners,  but  fellow-citizens 
(auHTtohrat)  with  the  saints ;  and,  (not,  as  in  the  usual  version, 
1  OF  the  household  of  God/  but,  otxetot)  householders,  or  domes 
tics,  or  fellow-inmates,  "  of  God,"  built  together,  &c. 

Again ;  St  Paul,  agreeing  with  Jesus,  says,  "  And  if  there  be 
any  other  commandment,  it  is  briefly  summed  up  in  this — thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  But  those  who  clamor 
for  total  Unlimited  Communism,  forget  that  the  neighbor  owes 
duties  to  us,  as  well  as  we  to  him.  St.  Paul  in  1  Cor.  vi.  also 
says  "  Dare  any  of  you  having  a  matter  against  another,  go  to 
law  before  the  unjust,  and  not  before  the  saints?  If  then  ye  have 
judgment  of  things  pertaining  to  this  life,  set  them  to  judge, 
.who  are  least  esteemed  in  the  Church."  But  we  know  that  such 


USES.    SCRIPTURE-PRACTICES.  493 

a  system  of  rights,  as  St.  Paul  here  mentions,  if  given  to  the 
church  by  the  civil  law,  would,  by  the  love  of  gain,  corrupt  the 
church,  unless  in  a  condition  of  Communism.  St.  Paul  also 
says  "  Covetousness  is  idolatry." 

And  then  there  is  the  repeated  scripture-doctrine, "  the  friend 
ship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God":  and  "if  any  man  love 
the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him."  Such  things 
point  to  separation  from  the  world,  "yet  without  going  alto 
gether  out  of  it" :  and  that  means  Limited  Communism. 

CHAP.  II.    PRACTICES   IN  SCRIPTURE. 

The  apostles  had  a  common  purse ;  and  Judas  was  treasurer. 
"  He  was  provoked  to  his  final  crime  of  selling  his  Master,  by 
the  dispute  about  the  alabaster  box,  which  Christ  decided  against 
him.  He  went  immediately  from  that  dispute,  and  made  a  con 
tract  to  sell  his  Master."  Bible  Communism,  p.  121.  Thus  his 
crime  was  not  love  of  his  own  money,  but  self-will  in  the  dispo 
sition  of  the  association's  money. 

After  the  resurrection,  the  apostles  and  their  friends,  all  lived 
together.  (Acts  i.  13,  15.)  And  then,  after  Pentecost, — Acts 
ii.  44  and  45, — "And  all  that  believed  were  together,  and  had 
all  things  common ;  and  sold  their  possessions  and  goods,  and 
parted  them  to  all  men,  as  every  man  had  need."  See  also 
chap.  iv.  32  to  35.  In  Acts,. chap.  v.  it  is  related,  how  Ana 
nias  and  Sapphira  were^  struck  dead,  for  pretending  to  give  in 
their  goods  to  the  common  stock,  when  they  withheld  a  part ; 
the  only  instance  of  such  vengeance  in  all  the  New  Testament. 
In  Acts  vi.  1  and  2,  are  signs  of  a  common  table,  one  of  the 
seven  superintendents  of  which,  was  St.  Stephen,  the  "first 
martyr."  There  are  also  allusions  to  a  common  table,  in  2 
Thessalonians,  chap.  iii. — "  If  any  will  not  work,  neither  shall 
he  eat" : — also  there  are  signs  of  a  communistic  meal  in  1  Co 
rinthians,  (besides  the  sacrament.)  The  Mosaic  semi-centennial 
distribution  of  all  the  lands  of  the  Nation,  is  plainly  of  a  Com 
munistic  tendency,  that  is  to  say,  is  a  form  of  Limited  Com 
munism.  The  same  may  also  be  said  of  the  Mosaic  law 
forbidding  farmers  to  glean  their  own  fields,  but  allowing  the 
poor  to  do  it.  So  also,  was  the  gathering  of  the  manna.  In 
fact,  the  church,  whether  Jewish  or  Christian,  has  always  been 


494  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  I.  III. 

largely  communistic,  without  being  totally  or  fanatically  so.  Fur 
thermore  ;  in  Chap.  IV.  of  this  Sub-Division, — see  our  theory 
of  1  Tim.  chap.  v.  Everybody  admits  that  this  passage  recog 
nizes  the  existence  of  a  Commune  of  widows,  perhaps  deacon 
esses  ;  but  we  claim  for  it  a  regularly  organized  but  Limited 
Commune  of  both  sexes. 

The  2  Thess.  chap.  iii.  is  fairly  susceptible  of  Communistic 
interpretation,  as  well  as  1  Tim.  v.  And  vs.  11,  "walk  dis 
orderly  *  *  *  working  not  at  all  *  *  *  busybodies,"  &c.,  all 
remind  us  of  1  Tim.  v.  13.  Communistic  also  are  the  phrases 
(vs.  10)  "if  any  would  not  work,  neither  let  him  eat77;  and 
(vs.  14)  "  if  any  man  obey  not  our  word  by  this  epistle,  note  that 
man,  and  have  no  company  with  him/7  says  our  translation  ;  but 
literally,  ffuvava/j.r/'vujy.t  means  to  mix  up  with,  which  seems  to 
include  much  more  than  merely  not  having  company  with: 
especially  as  vs.  15  says,  "count  him  not  as  an  enemy,  but  ad 
monish  him  as  a  brother.7'  Then  the  "walking  disorderly77  of  vs. 
6  and  11,  and  rejecting  St.  Paul's  example  of  working,  seem  to 
point  to  idleness  in  the  Commune.  And  the  "unreasonable  men" 
of  vs.  2,  (aronoi  means  out  of  place,  and  is  a  choice  word  herej, 
would  be  those  who  expected  to  live  in  idleness,  and  upon  the 
Commune ;  and  so  St.  Paul,  vs.  8,  says  "  neither  did  we  eat 
any  man7s  bread  for  nought77  &c. ;  which  is  the  very  thing  he 
quotes  in  the  next  verse,  as  his  example  to  them. 

CHAP.  III.    SCRIPTURAL   LIMITATIONS. 

The  Communism  of  Christ  and  of  the  early'church,  was  a 
Limited  Communism.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
considerations.  First :  The  conflicting  nature  of  the  texts  and 
evidences  usually  produced,  shows,  that  their  customs  then  were 
partly  Communistic,  and  partly  not.  Even  Joseph  of  Arimathea, 
and  the  good  Lydia,  retained  their  private  property.  In  some 
passages  we  hear  the  Christians  spoken  of  as  giving  all  away ;  in 
others,  we  see  them  only  giving  alms  liberally.  Second  :  When 
mention  is  made  of  giving  all  away,  it  is  not  for  the  purpose  of 
sharing  capital,  as  capital,  to  be  retained;  but  only  of  selling 
what  was  immediately  wanted,  and  giving  away  to  the  really 
needy.  Thus,  Acts  ii.  45,  they  "  parted  them  all  as  every  man 
had  need,77  and  Acts  iv.  35,  "  distribution  was  made  to  every  man 


USES.    SCRIPTURE-LIMITATIONS.  495 

according  as  he  had  need."  And  even  now,  in  any  rare  cases, 
if  large  numbers  of  fellow-Christians  were  suffering  for  the 
necessaries  of  life,  the  same  duty  would  devolve  upon  us,  of 
selling  whatever  capital  was  needed  for  the  emergency.  Third : 
We  nowhere  in  the  New  Testament,  read  of  a  single  case  of  any 
person  actually  selling  or  contributing  all  his  property,  neither 
of  the  rich  young  man,  nor  of  Barnabas,  nor  of  Ananias,  nor  of 
any  other  (except  the  widow  with  the  two  mites).  Fourth :  The 
apostles,  and  the  rich  women  who  traveled  about  with  Jesus,  and 
ministered  to  his  necessities,  only  shared  labors  and  incomes.  The 
apostles  did  not  sell  their  nets  nor  boats ;  nor  the  women  their 
property  nor  valuables,  (as  far  as  the  record  goes).  Fifth  :  Ad 
mitting  that  immediately  after  Pentecost,  there  was  a  more  lib 
eral  distribution  than  at  other  times,  yet  the  circumstances  were 
peculiar,  the  like  having  never  occurred  before  or  since.  The 
first  disciples  had  been  almost  as  one  Family,  for  years.  The 
mother  of  Jesus  was  still  with  them,  and  nearly  all  of  them  took 
to  preaching,  for  the  time :  and  Acts  i.  14  says  they  "  all  con 
tinued  with  one  accord."  And  ii.  46 — "  They  continued  daily 
with  one  accord  in  the  temple,  and  breaking  bread  from  house 
to  house ;  and  did  eat  their  meat  with  gladness  and  singleness 
of  heart,"  And  v.  32—"  The  multitude  of  them  that  believed, 
were  of  one  heart  and  one  soul."  They  were  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  a  marvelous  degree.  This  both  gave  wisdom 
for  the  distribution,  and  kept  aloof  the  hypocrites  and  avaricious 
speculators.  Even  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  in  Acts  v.  3,  were 
struck  dead,  not  for  withholding  of  their  property,  but  for 
lying,  and  attempting  to  cheat  the  apostles  by  a  false  pretense. 
Sixth :  Yet  even  in  those  perturbed  times,  and  as  recorded  in 
the  strongest  communistic  passages,  there  is  latent  evidence  that 
the  Communism  was  neither  entire,  nor  absolute.  Thus  Acts 
ii.  44 — "  were  together  and  had  all  things  common," — that  is, 
not  capital,  but  such  things  as  were  portable,  and  as  they  would 
naturally  have  with  them,  when  they  "  were  together"  at  a  dis 
tance  from  their  homes.  And  vs.  45 — "sold  their  possessions  and 
goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  as  every  man  had  need."  That  is, 
sold  one  thing  after  another,  as  it  happened  to  be  needed  for  im 
mediate  use.  And  Acts  v.  4 — "  While  it  remained,  was  it  not 
thine  own?  and  after  it  was  sold,  was  it  not  in  thine  own  power?" 


496  BK-  v-      LIMITED  COMMUNISM.      IV.  I.  IV. 

were  words  spoken  to  Ananias ;  clearly  showing  that  the  sale 
itself  was  entirely  voluntary,  and  that  he  could  himself  per 
sonally  have  distributed  whatever  part  of  it  he  chose,  if  he  so 
preferred;  but  he  had  no  right  to  pretend  to  give  all  of  that 
property  to  the  apostles,  when  he  was  not  doing  so.  Besides, 
the  principal  evil  after  all,  perhaps,  was  not  even  the  simple 
lie,  but  the  conspiracy  with  his  wife  to  do  so — because  Family- 
conspiracies  are  the  chief  bane,  and  most  dangerous  temptation, 
in  good  Communes.  In  Communism  "they  that  have  wives 
must  be  as  though  they  had  none,"  so  far  as  impartiality  goes. 
And  the  same  also  as  to  their  children. 

Seventh :  The  foregoing  principles  seem  all  touched  upon  at 
once,  in  a  passage  Acts  v.  11-14,  immediately  after  the  death  of 
Ananias  and  Sapphira :  thus,  "And  great  fear  came  upon  all  the 
church,  and  upon  as  many  as  heard  these  things.  And  by  the 
hands  of  the  apostles  were  many  signs  and  wonders  wrought, 
among  the  people ;  (and  they  were  all  with  one  accord  in  Solo 
mon's  porch.  And  of  the  rest,  durst  no  man  join  himself  to 
them.  And  believers  were  the  more  added  to  the  Lord,  multi 
tudes  both  of  men  and  women.") 

Eighth :  Nearly  all  the  Communistic  passages  of  the  Bible, 
plainly  show  a  Communism  not  of  capital  nor  principal,  but  of 
labors  and  of  board  and  of  income.  Plainly  so  in  the  Gospels 
and  Acts ;  and  truly  so  elsewhere.  So  with  the  Israelites  under 
Moses,  with  the  manna  from  heaven ;  and  so  with  St.  Paul,  who 
says  "  If  any  will  not  work,  neither  let  him  eat." 

CHAP.  IV.     THEOEY   OF   1   TIM.  V.  1-25. 

This  difficult  passage  of  Scripture  cannot  be  explained  by  a 
running  commentary,  but  only  by  some  theory  announced  first, 
and  then  the  texts  picked  out  to  suit  it.  Even  the  Koman  ex 
planations,  although  the  best  as  yet,  do  not  explain  all  the  diffi 
culties.  My  theory  is,  that  the  WHOLE  chapter  refers  to  a  limited 
Commune,  where  the  members  resided  and  boarded  usually,  but 
went  out  into  the  world  for  their  occupations,  (the  Commune 
having  mixed  functions), — and  were  supported  partly  by  the 
church,  for  church  work;  and  where  the  ministers  (and  their 
Families)  frequently  resided,  and  Timothy  also.  I  cannot  prove 
exactly,  that  full  incomes  were  what  the  rich  shared,  but  that  is 


USES.    THEORY   OF   1  TIM.  CHAP.  V.  497 

more  likely  than  any  other  portion  that  can  be  guessed.  The 
proof,  like  as  in  all  points  of  science,  is  not  demonstrative,  but 
only  cumulative ;  and  that  the  proposed  theory  solves  all  the 
difficulties,  better  than  any  other  theory  as  yet  proposed. 

But  first,  let  us  give  a  paragraph  on  a  corroborative  text  about 
rich  men.  In  1  Tim.  vi.  18.  The  English  version  is  erroneous. 
Eu/j-sTadoTous  does  not  mean  "READY  to  distribute";  but  means 
good  givers  or  right  givers :  Alford  says  free  givers.  My  theory 
is,  that  it  means  those  who,  belonging  to  the  Commune,  gave  the 
right  share,  not  keeping  back  any :  (giving  probably  the  promised 
portion  of  income).  Kotvwvtxouq  might  mean  free  Communers,  or 
persons  having  a  tendency  to  become  full  Communists.  In  "good 
works,"  xalois  means  fine  or  extra  (works) :  and  epfots  "  works" 
means  not  merely  deeds,  but  extra  deeds,  as  achievements,  &c. 
Then,  the  idea  of  something  extra  is  implied,  both  in  the  adjec 
tive,  and*  in  the  noun.  And  then  the  phrase  "rich  in  good 
works"  becomes,  rich  in  extra  achievements.  In  vs.  17,  "God  who 
giveth  us  richly  all  things  to  enjoy,"  may  mean,  limiting  the 
Communism  to  current  expenses,  and  to  current  consumption ; 
the  same  as  seems  meant  in  the  passages  in  Acts,  mentioned 
above.  The  words  to  Timothy,  "Them  that  are  rich  in  this 
world,"  seem  to  mean  those  that  have  large  incomes,  (without 
regard  to  their  capital),  because, — "  not  trust  in  uncertain  riches" 
certainly  and  literally  means,  not  hope  on  (or  for)  the  uncertainty 
of  riches ;  and  therefore  seems  to  apply  to  men  who  are  not  as 
yet  rich,  but  who  have  the  opportunity  to  become  so.  This  is 
confirmed  by  the  hint  in  vs.  19,  thus, — "laying  up  in  store  for 
themselves  a  good  foundation  against  the  time  to  come." 

Now  let  us  return  to  our  explanation  of  1  Timothy,  chap.  v. 
In  vs.  8 — "  If  any  provide  not  for  his  own,  and  especially  for 
those  of  his  own  house"  Otxsttav  means  domestic,  belonging  to  a 
household,  familiar,  friendly,  intimate,  appropriate,  and  sometimes 
property,  and  sometimes  one's  home  or  countryj-^-just  the  Greek 
work  for  a  Family-Commune.  The  Latin  has  it,  domesticorum, 
which  the  Rheims,  translates  "  domesticals"  The  Syriac  has  it 
"them,  who  are  of  the  household  of  faith":  Murdock.  The  German 
has  it,  hausgenossen,  i.e.,  "  Family,  lodgers,  domestic-servants," 
literally  house-fellows.  That  all  these  point  to  the  Syriac  as  the 
FULLEST  meaning,  as  it  is  also  historically  far  the  most  ancient, 


498  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  I.  IV. 

(being  of  the  second  century), — is  also  confirmed  by  what  fol 
lows,  namely,  that  he  who  does  not  provide  for  those  of  his  own 
religious  Commune,  "  hath  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an 
(infidel,  i.e.)  unbeliever."  The  limited  Communistic  interpreta 
tion  is,  that  the  members  of  the  church  must  contribute,  as  they 
are  able,  to  the  support  of  their  poor  relations,  and  not  leave 
them  entirely  dependent  on  the  Commune. 

The  phrase  in  vs.  3,  "  Honor  widows/'  means,  receive  them 
into  the  Commune:  therefore  in  vs.  17,  " Let  the  elders  be  counted 
worthy  of  double  honor/7  seems  to  include,  as  one  part  of  the 
double  honor,  the  being  received  into  its  membership  also.  This 
seems  to  bring  the  "  elder"  of  vs.  1,  to  be  also  a  member  of  the 
Commune :  and  this  again  makes  all  the  persons,  young  and  old, 
of  vss.  1  and  2,  to  be  members  of  it;  and  this  explains  the  other 
wise  apparent  jumble  there,  of  elders  official,  and  elders  by  age; 
and  the  apparent  confusion  of  the  official  elderesses,  and  the  young 
women.  All  were  on  a  par,  as  members  of  the  Commune.  This 
explains  also  the  apparent  jumble  vs.  19  and  20 — "Against  an 
elder"  &c. ; — and  the  words  "  them  that  sin,  rebuke  before  all," 
seeming  to  mean,  not  officers  only,  but  anybody.  And  the  phrase, 
"them  that  sin,  rebuke  before  all,  that  others  also  may  fear," 
seems  to  refer  most  properly,  to  proceedings  before  the  Com 
mune.  This  relation  to  the  Commune,  explains  also,  vs.  23, 
telling  Timothy  what  he  should  drink  for  his  "stomach's  sake." 

Now  it  would  appear,  that  these  aged  widows  over  sixty,  were 
not  by  any  means  the  only  residents  of  the  Commune,  but  were  like 
the  ministers  therein ;  and  were  to  be  devoted  to  a  mixed  work,  of 
taking  care  of  the  children,  and  of  strangers,  washing  the  saints' 
feet,  relieving  the  afflicted,  &c.,  vs.  10.  They  were  also  expected, 
vs.  5,  to  "continue  in  supplications  and  prayers,  night  and  day," 
evidently  so,  therefore,  for  the  Commune,  and  for  the  church, 
but  not  for  themselves  only.  And  then  in  vs.  11,  the  refusal  as 
to  the  younger  widows,  was  not  a  refusal  of  them,  as  applying  to 
be  members  of  the  Commune,  (vss.  2  and  14),  but  merely  a  re 
fusal  to  enroll  (and  ordain)  them  as  official  widows,  vs.  13.  The 
younger  ones,  (not  women,  as  in  English  version,  but  the  widows 
of  vs.  11),  were  to  marry  and  to  do  the  house- work  and  govern, 
literally  be  house-masters,  (vs.  14);  but  the  elder  ones  were  to 
take  charge  of  the  children,  vs.  10,  and  to  do  the  out-door  going, 


USES.  RELATIONS  TO  CELIBACY.  499 

instead  of  the  young  ones,  vs.  13.  Vs.  15  would  then  simply 
mean,  that  some  young  women  had  previously  been  enrolled  for 
this  church-work,  but  had  thrown  up  their  ordination  vows  there 
unto.  In  vs.  6,  the  "  living  in  pleasure"  cannot  mean  merely 
being  married,  because  St.  Paul  directs  the  younger  ones  to  marry, 
vs.  14.  The  phrase  therefore  is  general,  and  directs  marital  tem 
perance  among  the  members  of  the  Commune. 

The  charge  in  vs.  9,  that  these  accepted  and  aged  official  widows, 
should  have  been  "  the  wife  of  one  man,"  i.e.  should  not  have  been 
divorced  women,  and  thus  perhaps  have  had  one  or  more  divorced 
husbands  still  living, — was,  to  prevent  the  claims  which  such 
divorced  husbands  (who  were  probably  heathens,  or  not  members 
of  the  Commune)  might  have  had  upon  the  Commune,  with 
the  heathen  civil  law,  or  perhaps  only  with  the  sympathies  of 
unruly  mobs,  which  the  Acts  call  "  lewd  fellows  of  the  baser 
sort."  It  is  not  likely  that  the  words  "  wife  of  one  man,"  mean  a 
widow  whose  former  husband  had  died  before  the  widowhood  in 
question,  because  St.  Paul  approves  of  second  marriages  of  the 
young  ones,  vs.  14.  This  interpretation  is  confirmed  by,  because 
it  throws  light  upon,  the  charge  in  iii.  2,  that  a  bishop  also  must 
be  a  one- wife-man,  i.e.  not  a  divorced  man  with  a  living  wife 
hi  heathendom.  See  also  Sub.-Div.  III.  Chap.  IV.  §  4.  Also 
Sub.-Div.  I.  Chap.  II.  on  2  Thess.  Chap.  iii.  See  also  our 
immediately  following  meditation  on  celibacy. 

CHAP.  V.     RELATIONS   TO   CELIBACY. 

§  1 .   On  General  Principles. 

When  we  come  to  the  STATISTICS,  we  will  observe  the  pecu 
liarity,  that  all  the  Protestant  celibate  Communities,  have  both 
sexes  in  the  same  buildings.  And  the  great  secret  of  all  this 
wonder,  is,  that  they  have  discovered  by  instinct  and  experience, 
the  great  happiness  which  the  two  sexes  confer  upon  each  other, 
by  their  mere  presence  and  association ;  and  the  great  aid  thereby 
obtainable  to  holy  living.  A  prominent  Shaker  officer  and  gen 
tleman  (Elder  Evans)  expresses  the  feeling  as  one  of  "inde 
scribable  joy."  It  is  probably  somewhat  like  the  comfort  or 
exhilaration  which  very  virtuous  and  holy  "  lovers"  enjoy,  during 
courtship.  Whether  we  carl  it  "  magnetism,"  or  what,  its  purity 
and  power  cannot  be  questioned.  It  diifers  from  the  celibate 


500  BK.  V.      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  I.  V. 

feeling,  when  the  sexes  are  separated,  by  this  being  more  mag 
netic,  soothing  and  restful;  whereas  the  other,  rather  tends  to 
stimulation  and  unrest  and  discontent.  Both  history  and  expe 
rience  confirm  the  idea,  that  the  presence  of  both  sexes  gives 
courage  to  both,  and  not  to  the  woman  only;  and  is  therefore 
the  result  of  mutual  instinct,  rather  than  merely  of  a  desire  to 
please  the  other  sex.  And  the  only  Catholic  devotees  allowed  to 
marry,  are  the  Military  Orders.  Also  the  presence  of  women 
in  military  and  other  hospitals,  throws  considerably  more  light 
upon  this  subject,  of  the  poAver  of  their  simple  presence  and  at 
tendance,  to  strengthen",  comfort  and  encourage,  than  is  generally 
supposed.  Jesus  himself  was  fond  of  Martha  and  Mary. 

Accordingly,  the  common  arguments  for  a  select  few  in  the 
consecrated  life,  to  follow  celibacy,  are  so  strong,  as  to  justify,  and 
perhaps  often  to  require  it,  when  the  persons  are  residing  in  the 
common  "  world,"  out  of  Communes :  but  IN  Communes,  are 
the  very  positions  where  celibacy  would  neither  be  necessary,  nor 
be  required ;  yet  would  be  easiest  to  practice  virtuously. 

There  must  also  be  an  admission  here,  of  the  great  and  pecu 
liar  Individual-strength,  comfort  and  joy,  obtained  by  virtuous 
celibacy  when  the  sexes  are  apart, — an  exhilaration  like  as  from 
wine,  without  intoxication.  Its  joys  are  corroborated  by  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant  celibates.  And  to  this  must  also  be 
added  the  increased  devotion  to  moral  and  divine  uses,  made 
possible  by  being  freed  from  the  usual  worldly  relations. 

But  Communes  really  allow  of  such  arrangements  as  would  pro 
mote,  almost  as  much  freedom  from  Family-cares  and  trammels, 
as  does  the  entirely  celibate  life.  And  the  "life  and  health" 
guarantees  of  successful  Communism,  would  fully  justify  an 
abandonment  of  all  anxiety  about  wife  or  children,  in  case  the 
man  should  die,  or  fail  in  health.  But  we  must  carry  the  subject 
to  an  entirely  higher  plane  of  thought. 

Right  marriage  is  a  divine  sacrament  to  both  parties, — that  is, 
such  marriage  as  St.  Paul  describes  in  that  same  passage  wherein 
he  alludes  to  it  as  a  sacrament  (Eph.  v.  21-33).  And  marriage 
is  particularly  the  sacrament  unto  unselfishness,  vs.  28,  "he  that 
loveth  his  wife  loveth  himself."  Of  the  sacramental  marriage 
which  St.  Paul  describes,  he  says,  "  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  the 
church  *  *  *  the  Saviour  of  the  body;  *  *  *  church,  subject  unto 


USES.  RELATIONS  TO  CELIBACY.  501 

Christ,  so  let  the  wives  be  to  their  own  husbands  in  every  thing/7 
(vs.  23  and  24).  And  vs.  33, — the  husband  is  to  love  his  wife 
(that  is,  such  a  wife  as  that?),  and  the  wife  is  to  reverence  her 
husband.  The  32d  verse  concludes  it  to  be  a  sacrament,  by  say 
ing,  "  This  is  a  great  mystery."  The  word,  and  the  only  word, 
in  Greek,  for  sacrament,  is  mystery.  And  what  we  call  sacra 
ments,  the  Greek  church  calls  mysteries. 

Marriage  therefore,  being  the  express  mystery  or  sacrament 
of  unselfishness,  and  of  producing  mutual  love,  is  peculiarly  a 
proper  ordinance  for  Communism  : — -just  as,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  powerful  tendency  to  idolatry  in  marriage,  specially  needs 
Communism  to  counteract  it,  for  the  sake  of  the  higher  life. 
And  this  argument  does  not  depend  on  the  scripture  texts  alone, 
but  is  founded  on  nature  and  on  history ;  and  therefore  it  is 
placed  here  among  the  Arguments  on  General  Principles. 

Again,  marriage  is  the  sacrament  of  unselfishness,  by  culti 
vating  the  parental  feelings.  The  parental  feelings,  when  held 
in  moderation,  are  truly  divine,  and  are  powerful  cultivators  of 
the  divine  life  in  the  soul.  How  many  hardened  parents  there 
are,  who  are  restored  to  lives  of  virtue,  by  the  influence  of  their 
children  !  And  how  many  are  withheld  from  lives  of  crime,  by 
the  fear  of  disgracing  their  children !  The  temperate  love  of 
children,  comes  nearest  the  love  of  God  for  Mankind,  and  best 
exemplifies  that  love  in  the  soul,  of  all  -human  instrumentalities. 
The  great  thing  to  be  done  in  this,  as  in  the  love  between  hus 
band  and  wife,  is,  to  keep  it  so  modified  that  it  shall  not  become 
idolatrous.  The  love  of  children,  however,  is  a  love  which  those 
can  partake  of,  who  have  no  children  of  their  own ;  namely,  by 
devoting  themselves  to  the  care  of  other  people's  children.  And 
this  is  a  pre-eminent  argument  why  Family-Communes  should 
exist,  such  as  we  advocate,  and  suppose  are  spoken  of  in  1  Tim. 
chap.  v.  For  in  these,  even  the  celibates  may  fulfill  and  enjoy 
.their  celibacy,  and  stilf  partake  of  some  of  the  greatest  uses  and 
joys  of  the  Family-life.  And  by  thus  dividing  the  cares  and 
joys  and  affections,  of  training  children,  the  parental  idolatry 
would  cheerfully  and  happily  be  much  subdued.  Family-Com 
munes  are  the  only  places  where  are  possible,  happy  schools 
for  children;  keeping  them  under  observation  and  control,  all 
the  time;  yet  in  joy  and  freedom,  as  the  Kindergartens  aim  to  do. 


502  BK-  V.      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.     IV.  I.  V. 

Again,  the  writer  cannot  see  why  the  best  and  most  improved 
Individuals,  of  the  human  race,  or  those  supposed  to  be  the 
best,  should  set  themselves  against  marriage;  and  disdain  to 
perpetuate  their  better  kind.  For  if  the  grace  of  God  is  as  good 
and  efficient,  as  it  is  generally  supposed  to  be,  it  ought  to  be  able 
to  conquer  selfishness  in  the  Family,  as  wrell  as  out  of  it.  In 
fact,  until  the  grace  of  God  does  that,  it  must  be  considered  as 
not  yet  having  its  perfect  influence. 

The  celibate  tendency  in  the  higher  life,  is,  to  be  sure,  partly 
a  reaction  against  intemperance  and  idolatry,  and  partly  an  in 
stinctive  shrinking  from  the  usual  and  well-known  selfishness,  in 
married  or  Family  life ;  and  thus,  is  an  expression  of  the  moral 
weakness  of  human  nature,  in  Individuals  and  associations ;  but 
most  of  all,  it  is  an  attempt  to  make  transient  emotions,  the  per 
manent  habits  of  life  ;  as  indeed  the  "  revivalists"  do,  in  religion 
generally. 

But  another  reason  against  celibacy  in  the  Communes,  at  least 
in  the  Protestant  ones,  is,  the  inability  to  perpetuate  the  Com 
mune  itself,  unless  by  its  natural  increase  of  population.  Be 
cause,  in  modern  times  and  among  a  people  trained  in  the 
natural  sciences,  there  cannot  be  that  reverence  for  celibacy, 
there  formerly  was ;  considered  as  a  virtue  in  itself :  and  hence, 
the  celibate  Communes  fail  to  draw  adult  members,  in  sufficient 
numbers  to  maintain  their  own  prosperity ;  and  the  taking  of 
children  does  not  succeed,  because  Communism  is  itself  a  devel 
opment  suited  rather  to  the  more  mature  conditions  of  mind,  and 
morals,  and  requires  parents  to  lead  their  children  into  it. 
§  2.  On  Scripture  Grounds. 

It  is  said  that  the  Scriptures  teach  celibacy.  Let  us"  examine 
the  alleged  texts.  (1.)  Argument:  Matth.  i.  18  and  Luke  i. 
34, — are  understood  to  teach  that  Jesus  was  "  born  of  a  vir 
gin."  Answer;  Yes;  but  that  virgin  was  married;  and  so  at 
the  very  time  of  the  birth.  (2.)  Argument :  Jesus  never  mar-, 
ried.  Answer ;  the  scripture  does  not  say  so ;  but,  admitting 
that  he  was  not,  yet  Peter  was,  and  Paul,  1  Cor.  ix.  5,  claimed 
the  right  to  be,  if  he  chose  to. 

(3.)  Argument :  Matth.  xxii.  30, — "  In  the  resurrection  they 
neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of 
God."  Answer ;  But  that  is  spoken  of  the  state  after  death  and 


USES.  RELATIONS  TO  CELIBACY.  5Q3 

resurrection ;  and  Luke  xx.  36  adds  the  evidently  philosophical 
reason,  "neither  do  they  die  any  more."  (4.)  Argument :  Luke 
xx.  34  and  35  speak  in  a  way  that  might  easily  be  interpreted 
of  high  and  low  spiritual  conditions  in  this  world.  Answer; 
Yes,  but  those  phrases  are  to  be  interpreted  by  the  parallel  pas 
sage  in  Matthew',  and  by  the  36th,  the  very  next  verse,  in  Luke 
himself,  and  by  the  context  in  both  places.  (5.)  Argument : 
Yes,  but  this  vs.  36  also  speaks  of  the  celibates  as  being  "  equal 
unto  the  angels"  and  as  being  "the  children  of  God."  An 
swer  ;  But  immediately  he  adds  "  being  children  of  the  resur 
rection."  (6.)  Argument:  But  this  latter  phrase  "children  of 
the  resurrection"  may  also  be  figurative:  Answer;  Hardly; 
because  the  whole  parable  here,  is  upon  the  subject  of  a  LITERAL 
resurrection,  and  is  to  prove  that  the  marriages  of  this  life  do 
not  necessarily  affect  or  reach  to  the  life  beyond.  (7.)  Argu 
ment  :  Well,  if  the  parable  is  mainly  to  prove  that  the  marriages 
of  this  life,  do  not  reach  to  the  life  beyond ;  then  those  persons 
are  wrong  who,  from  the  words,  "  in  the  resurrection  they  neither 
marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage,"  infer  that  there  will  not  be 
any  marriage  in  Heaven.  Answer ;  Perhaps  so ;  but  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing  certainly.  The  Swedenborgians  hold  to  a 
doctrine  of  eternal  marriage  in  Heaven.  And  as  sex  seems  to 
pervade  all  nature,  their  hypothesis  is  probable.  But,  observe, 
the  scripture  says  nothing  about  it;  and  that  is  what  we  are 
talking  about  now. 

(8.)  Argument :  Mark  x.  29  and  30,  say,  "  There  is  no  man 
that  hath  left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother, 
or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  sake  and  the  gospel's ;  but 
he  shall  receive  a  hundredfold  now  in  this  time,  houses,  and 
brethren,  and  sisters,  and  mothers,  and  children,  and  lands,  with 
persecutions  ;  and  in  the  world  to  come,  eternal  life."  Observe, 
says  the  celibate,  that  in  vs.  30,  wives  are  omitted  from  the  re 
wards  "  in  this  time."  Answer ;  As  the  Saviour  in  vs.  29  is 
speaking  in  the  plural,  if  he  had  said  wives,  plural,  it  might 
have  been  construed  as  teaching  polygamy,  or  some  sort  of 
"  complex  marriage."  The  parallel  passages  Matth.  xix.  29  and 
Lk.  xviii.  29,  speak  in  the  singular  ;  but  do  not  particularize  at 
all,  as  to  the  rewards.  Perhaps  Mark  (in  x.  29  and  30)  changed 
the  form  from  singular  to  plural,  of  his  own  memory ;  and  so, 


504  BK-  v-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      I"V.  I.  V. 

of  his  own  judgment,  had  to  omit  "  wives"  from  the  rewards,  to 
avoid  misinterpretations  of  polygamy  or  "  complex  marriage." 
(9.)  Argument:  1  Cor.  vii.  8,  26,  32,  33,  34  and  38,  seem  to 
teach  the  advantage  of  celibacy.  Answer;  Repeatedly  there, 
St.  Paul  insists  that  he  speaks  not  by  command  of  the  Lord,  but 
only  by  permission :  see  vs.  6,  25,  26  and  40.  And  there  St. 
Paul  spoke  chiefly  on  account  of  the  peculiarity  of  the  age,  when 
Christians  were  persecuted  unto  death.  In  vs.  26  St.  Paul  says, 
"  I  suppose  therefore  that  this  is  good  for  the  present  distress." 

(10.)  Argument:  1  Tim.  v.  9,  says,  "Let  not  a  widow  be 
taken  into  the  number,  under  threescore  years  old":  and  vs.  11, 
"  But  the  younger  widows  refuse :  for  when  they  have  begun  to 
wax  wanton  against  Christ,  they  will  marry."  Answers ;  (a)  It 
Is  folly  to  apply  this,  to  the  case  of  any  under  60  years  of  age, 
by  St.  Paul's  own  limitation :  (b)  It  is  often  supposed  that  in 
vs.  9,  the  woman  must  have  never  had  only  one  husband,  but 
yet  vs.  1 1  expressly  orders  the  young  widows  to  marry  a  second 
time  :  and  therefore  it  means  wife  of  only  one  man  at  a  time ; 
(c)  vs.  3,  8,  and  16,  clearly  show,  that  these  widows  were  to  be 
supported  by  the  church.  And  it  would  never  do  for  a  poor 
church,  to  undertake  to  support  all  its  poor  widows,  with  privi 
lege  to  marry  again  and  thereby  have  families,  children,  and 
perhaps  worthless  husbands,  or  quarrelsome  husbands,  who 
would  entangle  them  in  lawsuits  with  the  heathen,  and  so  on, 
and  perhaps  all  to  be  dependent  on  the  church,  (d)  The 
arrangement  seems  probably  to  have  been  a  mere  peculiarity 
(like  the  advice  not  to  marry,  spoken  of  above),  for  the  then 
existing  distress.  The  covenant  of  the  Commune  may  have 
been  simply  this:  A  poor  and  persecuted  church  agrees  to  take 
and  support  a  few  widows,  such  as  absolutely  have  no  one  else 
to  depend  upon  ;  but  in  order  to  limit  the  number  and  responsi 
bility,  it  imposes  the  condition  of  60  years  of  age,  and  a  promise 
not  to  enfter  into  any  Family-arrangements  again ;  (two  con 
ditions  which  m  iv  properly  go  together),  and  then  a  third  con 
dition,  namely,  that  they  would  devote  themselves  to  the  Lord's 
work,  as  compensation  for  being  thus  received,  (e)  Remember 
that  St.  Paul  repeatedly  commands  the  bishops  and  elders  and 
deacons,  to  be  married.  (See  Tim.  and  Titus.)  Therefore,  celib 
acy  for  itself,  is  not  necessary  to  church  officials ;  and  therefore, 


USES.     TENDENCIES   IN   GENERAL.  595 

some  other  reason  than  that,  must  be  the  ground  of  this  charge 
about  the  widows,  even  if  at  this  late  day  we  cannot  tell  what 
that  particular  reason  is.  But  for  an  additional  explanation,  see 
Theory  of  1  Tim.  v.,  Sub-Div.  I.,  Chap.  IV. 

(11.)  Argument:  Rev.  xiv.  4,  says,  "These  are  they  which 
were  not  defiled  with  women,  for  they  are  virgins."  Answers; 
(a)  This  passage  is  spoken,  of  a  choice  select  number  of  the 
saved :  vs.  4 — "  the  first  fruits  unto  God  and  to  the  Lamb/'  and 
vs.  5 — "  without  fault  and  without  guile."  (b)  It  is  useless  for 
persons  who  have  faults  and  guile,  or  are  not  the  "first  fruits/' 
to  quote  this  passage,  (c)  It  explains,  itself,  the  meaning  of 
virgin,  namely,  "  not  defiled";  but  the  scripture  nowhere  teaches 
that  marriage  or  its  affections  defile;  but  says,  "marriage  is 
honorable  in  all"  etc.  Read  Heb.  xiii.  4.  •  v 

(12.)  Argument :  Some  argue  that  because  Adam  and  Eve 
needed  garments,  immediately  after  their  fall,  therefore  their 
sin  was  a  violation  of  duty  as  celibates.  Answers;  (a)  Sins  of 
eating  and  drinking  are  quite  sufficient  to  affect  the  passions, 
without  anything  further.  (6)  Sin  in  perfect  beings  would  be 
as  likely  to  take  this,  as  its  first  development,  anyhow,  (c)  Even 
if  there  had  been  a  premature  violation  of  celibacy,  it  would  not 
prove,  that  God  had  intended  their  celibacy  to  endure  any  longer 
than  their  probation,  (d)  God  made  them,  as  all  other  animals, 
and  even  vegetables,  subject  to  marital  conditions,  and  therefore 
intended  such,  sooner  or  later. 


SUB-DIVISION    II. 

ARGUMENTS   FROM    THE    UTILITIES    OF    COMMU 
NISM. 

CHAP.  I.    ITS   GOOD   TENDENCIES   IN   GENERAL. 

The  principal  general  argument  for  Limited  Communism,  is 
its  tendency  to  promote  the  highest  good  of  human  nature.  In 
putting  down  selfishness,  it  leads  to  a  higher  Christian  life.  It 
combines  the  elements  of  church,  state,  and  Family;  furnishes 
several  trades,  and  a  vast  amount  of  the  comforts  and  refinements 


506  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV..  II.  I. 

of  life.  It  gives  a  life-insurance  to  each  member,  as  against  ill 
success,  ill  health,  large  Family,  &c.  It  makes  the  separation 
by  death,  far  less  agonizing;  and  in  marriage,  does  not  separate 
the  young  couples  from  the  old  parents ;  nor,  separate  Families 
in  divorce.  It  makes  the  interests  of  ordinary  life,  go  hand  in 
hand  with  the  best  Christian  usefulness.  It  harmonizes  class 
enmities,  aims  to  provide  for  every  want,  and  is  itself  (Limited 
Communism)  a  felt  want  of  the  age. 

A  Limited  and  Christian  Communism,  is  the  great  means  in 
a  republic,  to  help  to  find  out  who  are  the  most  suitable  leaders, 
and  to  induce  the  people  to  accept  them,  and  also  to  induce  the 
best  men  to  accept  official  leadership.  In  ancient  times,  the  war 
as  to  who  should  be  Pope,  was  voluntarily  referred  to  a  retired 
Communist  monk,  St.  Bernard,  who  made  it  his  life  business  to 
found  "  Communities." 

Among  Mankind,  as  among  other  animals,  it  is  necessary  from 
time  to  time,  to  raise  improved  kinds  and  tribes.  Communism 
is  one  method  of  accomplishing  this  end. 

One  of  the  uses  of  Communistic  theories  would  be,  to  elabor 
ate  the  true  principles  of  the  Family.  This  would  also  enable 
the  various  members  of  the  same  Family,  to  continue  to  be  mem 
bers  of  the  same  united  household,  after  marriage.  The  reason 
why  good  people  often  have  bad  children,  is,  because  of  the  ex 
amples  of  home  selfishness.  Communism  will  have  much  of  its 
success  in  the  world,  by  being  more  prolific  of  healthy  offspring, 
and  more  successful  in  rearing  children,  and  in  training  them. 

Strong  Communes  afford  the  last  hope  for  the  reform  of  the 
erring, — whether  inebriates,  prostitutes,  or  criminals.  Such  per 
sons,  by  assembling  in  such  Communities  (each  class  by  itself, 
without  necessarily  separating  sexes)  would  avoid  public  dis 
grace,  and  the  temptations ,  that  are  peculiar  or  dangerous  to 
themselves.  But  such  Communes  must  be  of  two  Social  Circles, 
— and  the  superior  division,  be  either, — unfallen,  or  thoroughly 
reformed. 

Limited  Communism  gives  the  advantages  of  poverty,  with 
out  its  sufferings;  the  advantages  of  wealth,  without  its  luxuries 
or  temptations.  It  honors  and  rescues  from  disgrace,  a  life  of 
poverty  and  toil,  which  must  so  long  yet  be  the  lot  of  the  mass 
of  Mankind.  It  is  the  only  thing  that  can  save  Christian  nations 


USES.   .REGENERATION   OP   LABOR   AND   STUDY.  5Q7 

from  the  fate  of  Greece  and  Rome,  caused  by  the  luxurious 
evils  of  a  people,  highly  developed  in  intellect  and  sensibility, 
without  corresponding  moral  and  religious  principle. 

Another  use  of  Communism,  is  its  aid  to  Social  Science  as  a 
science,  and  may  be  expressed  thus ;  Social  Science  comes  in  place 
of  obsolete  or  scholastic  Theology  (see  Summary  Introduction), 
and  that  Theology  in  its  day,  needed  a  recluse  or  contemplative 
life  to  develop  and  mature  it ;  just  so,  Social  Science  requires  a 
recluse  and  contemplative  life  to  develop  and  mature  IT.  Be 
cause  the  honors,  contentions,  and  pressure,  of  immediate  schemes, 
preclude  politicians  and  even  statesmen,  from  that  coolness  and 
impersonal  reflection,  and  gradual  accumulation  of  knowledge, 
— which  are  necessary;  and  the  more  so,  as  Social  Science  has 
been  as  yet  so  little  developed. 

Communities  are  the  true  experiments  of  Sociology.  No 
experiment  can  be  real,  which  does  not  flow  out  of  personal  con 
victions,  as  these  societies  do. 

CHAP.  II.    REGENERATION   OF   LABOR   AND   STUDY. 

Communism  makes  industry  attractive,  and  makes  study  a 
^Kindergarten  for  adults'7:  and  accomplishes  both  these  results, 
by  acting  on  labor  and  learning  both  together,  and  by  allow 
ing  plenty  of  rest.  Because  the  alternations  of  labor,  study 
and  rest,  are  nature's  alleviatives  for  a  healthy  and  useful  life. 
All  the  other  usual  suggestions  for  "  attractive  industry,"  only 
stimulate  feelings  utterly  at  variance  with  the  highest  human 
morality.  The  thing  to  be  done  is,  to  banish  pride,  emulation, 
selfishness,  and  trifling  play;  and  then  to  make  all  labors  and 
all  studies  so  interesting,  as  to  be  like  amusements,  getting  people 
to  love  them;  but  not  compelling  any  to  perform  them,  only 
ivhen  willing  to. 

To  make  labor  attractive  is  certainly  possible;  because  the 
successful  Communes  generally  give  it  as  their  experience,  that 
they  usually  have  no  difficulty  whatever  in  that  respect.  See 
Horace  Greeley's  account  of  this  peculiarity.  Education  can 
also  be  made  attractive.  *The  science  of  education  has  succeeded 
in  making  the  training  and  studies  of  children  delightful  to 
them.  The  Kindergarten,  object-teaching,  teaching  the  concrete 
earlier  than  the  abstract;  the  simplified  reading-books  lately 


508  BK-  v-      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      I~V.  II.  II. 

invented,  the  discovery  that  children  love  great  ideas  in  simple 
words,  elective  studies,  especially  in  the  more  advanced ; — all 
these  things  have  proved  learning  to  be,  and  made  it,  no  longer 
a  misery,  but  a  pleasure.  And  our  theory  gives  good  prospect 
of  success,  in  making  both  education  and  labor  interesting ; 
because  it  joins  the  two,  and  thus  increases  almost  indefinitely 
the  variety  of  choices  of  the  changes. 

The  following  may  be  given  as  an  outline  of  the  principles, 
whereby  labor  may  be  made  attractive.  First,  Negative  ones; 
Second,  Positive  ones. 

First,  the  Negative  ones  consist  in: — Removing  the  causes 
of  idleness,  namely,  infirmity  of  body ;  inapplication  of  mind ; 
carelessness  of  youth  and  habit ;  false  pride  against  work,  espe 
cially  as  compared  with  virtue ;  false  opinion  that  labor  is  a  curse ; 
early  expectations,  training  children  among  the  idle  and  vicious; 
financial  and  civil  instability,  disturbances,  and  changes. 

Second,  the  Positive  principles  of  making  labor  attractive,  con 
sist,  partly  of  inducements  for  both  Education  and  Work.  These 
inducements  are,  variety  and  change  of  each,  and  from  Work  to 
Study,  or  vice-versa,  alternations  of  rest  and  labor.  These  make 
both  work  and  study  interesting,  by  their  accompaniments,  by 
their  abundant  instruments,  by  their  healthful  places,  arrange 
ments,  and  methods;  and  by  their  times  and  seasons;  and  by 
giving  to  each  and  all,  the  studies  and  labors  which  they  would 
perform  most  cheerfully.  But  every  person  able  to  work  manually, 
should  do  enough  of  it  to  uphold  its  honor  and  dignity;  as  also  to 
promote  his  health  without  being  compelled  to  resort  to  amuse 
ments.  He  or  she  who  despises  labor,  ruins  the  community.  Add 
sufficient  compensation,  and  thereby  social  power  and  votes;  and 
in  the  early  stages,  perhaps,  honors  and  grades.  As  far  as  pos 
sible,  have  all  things  done  in  company  with  other  persons,  and 
sometimes  with  both  sexes,  and  accompanied  by  the  children, 
they  also  working  when  practicable. 

The  changes  when  merely  from  one  kind  of  work  to  another, 
may  be  made  very  various,  as  for  instance ;  from  out-door  to  in 
door  ;  from  sedentary  to  ambulatory ;  from  quick  to  slow ;  from 
easy  to  heavy  ;  and  from  nervous  or  sensitive  to  muscular.  Make 
people  happy  whilst  AT  their  work  ;  and  give  them  sufficient 
motives,  such  as  compensations,  honors,  just  power,  dependent 


USES.     PRACTICABILITY.  509 

families,  duty,  &c. ;  and  then  make  their  subsequent  rest  also 
happy;  keep  them  healthy  and  temperate,  not  precocious,  nor 
with  too  much  confinement  to  books  or  otherwise, — and  treat 
contempt  of  labor,  as  the  crime  it  really  is, — and  labor  will 
become  fully  attractive. 

Communism  is  true  economy,  because  it  introduces  division 
and  distribution  of  labor,  in  domestic  and  household  affairs;  and 
because  it  purchases  by  wholesale ;  and  because  it  has  its  dwell 
ings,  work-shops,  stores,  recreation-halls,  and  church,  all  on  the 
same  ground  and  in  close  contiguity ;  and  because  it  makes  labor 
attractive,  and  makes  learning  pleasant,  and  because  it  banishes 
extravagant  and  fashionable  expenditures. 

CHAP.  III.    PEACTICABILITY. 

The  principal  practical  hindrances  to  Communism,  are  as  fol 
low: — One  is,  the  disposition  of  average  human  beings,  to  take 
advantage  of  unselfishness,  leniency,  kindness,  benevolence,  &c. ; 
instead  of  accepting  them,  and  returning  for  them  an  equal  or 
greater  amount  of  the  same  excellencies.  This  tendency  is  ever 
ready,  even  from  those  who  love  us,  as  also  from  those  who  can 
only  be  governed  by  fear.  The  direct  remedy  for  it,  might  be 
a  high  sentiment  of  honor  on  the  subject, — a  sentiment  that  would 
recoil  as  strongly  against  the  very  idea  of  returning  selfishness 
for  unselfishness,  as  it  would  of  violating  its  sacred  honor  in  any 
other  trust.  And  what  can  be  more  base,  than  returning  selfish 
ness  for  unselfish  trust  ?  And  all  unselfishness  is  trust. 

Another  great  practical  hindrance  is,  the  egotistical  and  over- 
conceited  conception  of  most  young  Individuals,  especially  in 
the  United  States,  that  they  can  succeed  better  than  others  can 
succeed, — the  egotistical  conceited  conception,  of  so  many,  that 
they  are  smarter  than  others.  This  notion  necessarily  being  gen 
erally  false,  tends  to  produce  disappointment,  and  then  roguery. 
But  old  folks  get  over  this  in  part. 

There  is  a  third  great  practical  difficulty,  namely,  the  fact  that 
human  nature  will  exert  itself  more  under  a  stimulus  of  self, 
than  under  any  other  inducement.  The  direct  antidote  to  this 
part  truth,  is  a  higher  cultivation  of  the  social  feelings, — feelings 
which  crave  partnership  for  business,  rather  than  Individual- 
action  or  Individual-responsibility, — feelings  which  may  grow, 


510  BK.  V.      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  II.  III. 

from  a  craving  for  small  partnerships,  to  larger  ones,  and  so  on 
up  to  business  and  home  Corporations,  and  then  Communes. 
Thus  Limited  Communism  becomes  the  culmination  of  civiliza 
tion  in  industry. 

There  are  also  special  difficulties  in  the  United  States.  Nearly 
all  of  the  successful  Protestant  Communes,  and  many  or  most 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  ones,  have  had  their  origin  in  the  old 
world,  and  consist  chiefly  of  foreigners,  and  their  immediate  de 
scendants.  But  the  number  of  unsuccessful  American  Protest 
ant  Communes  (about  seventy)  is  so  large,  that  we  can  hardly 
help  fearing,  that  Communism  (as  Noyes  somewhere  says)  is 
somehow  uncongenial  to  America.  "  The  first  are  (sometimes) 
last,  and  the  last  first."  And  there  can  be  no  better  final  test, 
of  the  soundness  of  American  principles  of  civil  government, 
than  their  ultimate  tendencies  in  preparing  for  and  producing, 
not  merely  the  ambition  for,  because  there  is  plenty  of  that,  but 
the  realization  of,  successful  Christian  Limited  Communes. 

That  most  of  the  Communities  which  have  succeeded,  have 
consisted  of  foreigners, — is  not  final  proof  of  the  unsuitableness 
of  Communism  for  this  country.  The  same  comparative  differ 
ence  exists  in  regard  to  co-operation. 

To  the  objection  that  the  American  mind  seeks  absolute 
equality,  in  order  to  happiness, — we  answer,  that  such  claim 
ants  are  not  as  yet  fit  for  Communism  ;  not  having  the  spiritual 
experience  and  enlargement,  necessary  to  understand  the  meaning 
of  true  equality.  The  true  equality  of  Real  Communism,  does 
not  give  to  each  person  an  equal  amount,  of  dollars,  or  of 
things  :  but  it  gives  to  each  one,  what  he  needs. 

But  a  general  present  prevalence  of  Communism,  cannot  be 
expected,  in  a  country  thinly  settled,  and  with  every  material 
in  abundance.  Yet  a  vast  change  may  take  place,  in  all  these 
conditions,  in  less  than  half  a  century.  But  if  not,  then  the 
decrease  in  the  hiring  and  purchasing  power  of  property,  as 
well  as  of  the  rate  of  interest  of  money,  may  compel  the  wealthy, 
formerly  aristocratic,  to  resort  to  a  Limited  Communism  for 
their  own  economy,  and  to  avoid  the  vexation  and  indecent 
treatment,  arising  under  the  old  system. 

Nordhoif  seems  to  think  that  Communism  is  practicable,  or 
useful,  only  for  the  very  poorer  and  "  laboring"  classes :  but  we 


USES.     ANTICIPATIONS   IN   HISTORY.  51 1 

think  it  quite  as  well  adapted  for  the  refined  and  wealthy ;  so 
they  could  do  their  own  house-work,  without  the  annoyances  and 
dissatisfaction  of  house-help,  and  with  much  less  expense.  For, 
evidently  the  troubles  and  expenses  of  housekeeping,  in  this 
country,  are  driving  the  refined,  and  even  the  wealthy,  into  large 
boarding-houses ;  from  which  the  way  to  co-operative  boarding, 
is  not  distant;  and  from  that,  some  limited  forms  of  Com 
munism  may  be  developed. 

CHAP.  IV.     ANTICIPATIONS   IN    HISTORY. 

History  is  foreshadowing  Limited  Communism,  by  anticipat 
ing  its  different  elements  separately.  All  insurance  companies 
are  of  the  nature  of  co-operation ;  and  all  the  mutual  companies 
are  Communistic,  each  for  its  own  function,  whether,  fire,  ma 
rine,  life,  health  or  accident;  even  a  boarding-house  is  Com 
munistic.  Schools  and  colleges  are  Communistic,  especially  the 
"  public"  ones.  So  also  are  the  beneficiary  departments  of  those 
not  fully  public. 

All  the  Protestant  churches  in  the  land,  are  Communistic  to  a 
certain  extent,  and  are  daily  becoming  more  so.  Free  churches, 
as  to  church  property,  are  Communistic  among  all  who  are  rec 
ognized  as  members ;  and  their  management  is  Communistic. 
So  also  with  the  Odd-Fellows,  and  the  Temperance  and  other 
"  orders." 

The  custom  of  men  (i.e.  the  male  sex)  assembling  by  them 
selves,  in  clubs  and  taverns,  shows  a  want  in  human  nature. 
The  same  want  of  the  company  of  their  own  sex,  exists  in 
women.  These  wants  are  best  realized  in  a  Commune. 

CHAP.  V.    THE  SEMI-KECLUSE  LIFE  NEEDED   FOR  THE  HIGHER 
SPIRITUAL   ATTAINMENTS. 

Nearly  all  the  great  ideal-forms,  hopes,  and  aspirations,  of 
human  society,  are  evidently  practicable  only  in  Communism. 
Such  ideals  ought  not  to  be  called  failures,  until  they  have  been 
fairly  tried;  with  all  the  combinations  of  appliances,  that  the 
best  instincts  of  the  uneducated,  the  highest  generalizations  of 
genius,  and  the  furthest  developments  of  science,  can  contribute, 
and  can  adapt  to  the  true  art  of  reforming  society :  in  other 
words,  until  Social  Science  has  become  well  developed,  and  has 
produced  a  reformed  politics. 


512  BK.  V.      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  II.  V. 

Christianity,  and  even  Heaven,  are  based  essentially  upon 
Communistic  principles.  In  Heaven,  the  sameness  will  much 
outweigh  all  the  differences.  The  millennial  saints  (Rev.  chap. 
ix.)  are  all  arrayed  alike,  and  in  beautiful  simplicity  ;  with  white 
robes  for  dresses,  and  white  stones  for  jewels. 

Perfect  truth  and  candor  are  practicable  and  obligatory,  only 
in  Communism.  The  sacrifices  of  property  and  wages,  gener 
ally  required,  to  live  a  perfectly  good  life,  are  such  as  to  need 
co-operation  in  a  Commune.  This  world  is  a  world  of  suffering 
for  Christians:  "yea  all  that  will  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus, 
shall  suffer  persecution. "  But  "  when  they  persecute  you  in  one 
city,"  (or  in  one  form  of  civilization),  "flee  ye  to  another." 

Association  of  the  good,  makes  it  easier  to  carry  out  the  higher 
commands  of  Christ;  such  as,  "Labor  not  for  the  meat  which 
perish  eth  ;"  "  Take  no  thought,  saying,  What  shall  we  eat,  or 
what  shall  we  drink,  or  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ?"  "Re 
sist  not  evil,"  &c. 

There  is  a  condition  of  spiritual  life,  when  a  person  has  too 
much  grace  to  be  happy  in  the  world, — too  much  grace  to  enjoy 
its  follies,  and  yet  not  enough,  to  enjoy  God,  and  trust  in  him. 
When  this  condition  is  habitual,  it  seems  to  require,  at  least  for 
a  time,  the  cure  of  a  semi-recluse  life, — the  cure  of  a  College  for 
Piety,  such  as  a  good  Commune  would  naturally  be. 

As  Beecher  says: — "There  is,  in  almost  every  event,  some 
subtle  element,  that  may  be  swreet  to  those  who  know  how  to 
extract  the  sweetness, — to  those  who  have  the  art,  (for,  it  becomes 
an  art),  or  the  education,  (for,  we  have  to  be  educated  into  every 
thing  that  is  not  animal),  of  finding  the  sweet,  the  good,  in  what 
ever  we  have  to  do  with.  And  in  a  corresponding  sense,  grati 
tude  is  an  art,  an  art  which  is  seldom  learned,  but  which,  if  it 
were  universal,  would  transform  the  world,  in  a  day.  If  it  could 
be  given  to  men  as  an  immediate  experience,  *  *  *  it  would  dry 
up  half  the  tears  on  the  globe  to-day.  It  would  destroy  half 
the  temptations  to  which  men  are  subject." 

Piety  is  something  to  be  learned, — a  training  of  the  affections, 
and  familiarity  with  good  examples.  The  early  Christians  were 
called,  in  their  own  language,  learners  or  pupils.  That  is  what 
the  word  "disciples,"  means.  Then,  may  not  seminaries  or 
boarding-institutions  be  established,  for  learning  or  training  in 


USES;   FOR   POLITICO-RELIGIOUS   FREEDOM. 

piety  ?  Those  who  need  moral  -help,  and  who  sincerely  desire  it, 
should  place  themselves  as  moral  children,  or  apprentices,  under 
the  care  and  control  of  their  moral  superiors,  who  love  them, 
and  who  sincerely  desire  to  help  them.  A  moral  religious  Com 
munity  is  the  very  place  to  impart  the  necessary  discipline ;  but 
some  little  degree  of  such  discipline,  must  have  first  been  attained 
in  the  Family,  or  in  the  world. 

Yea,  more,  we  think  it  may  safely  be  said,  that  a  Communistic 
life  is  needed,  to  secure,  even  a  decently  good  Christian  life,  among 
Mankind  ordinarily.  A  good  Communist  must  hate  injustice 
and  selfishness,  everywhere,  and  of  every  kind.  He  must  be  a 
"  good  hater," — of  evil.  But  the  common  ideas  of  Christianity, 
represent  (whether  truly  or  falsely,  we  cannot  say),  forgiveness 
of  sins,  as  a  very  easy  thing  to  obtain ;  and  consequently,  the 
sense  of  the  evil  of  sin,  is  undermined  in  the  heart.  And  in 
order  to  counteract  this,  the  only  greatly  efficient  means,  per 
haps,  are  religious  persecution,  endangering  life;  or  Communism. 
And  now  that  we  are,  happily,  not  in  danger  of  our  lives,  for 
religion's  sake,  the  power  of  a  Limited  Communism  seems  almost 
the  only  means  remaining,  to  promote  among  Mankind  generally, 
a  due  sense  of  the  value  of  righteousness  for  its  own  sake,  and 
for  its  own  immediate  consequences,  its  own  little  heavens  upon 
earth  ;  where,  worldliness  being  for  the  most  part  shut  out,  and 
temptations  reduced  to  a  minimum,  the  whole  structure  of  things, 
tends  to  uphold  the  value  of  morality  and  righteousness,  for 
their  own  sakes. 


ICAL  GOVERNMENTS. 

Communism  is  needed,  to  give  men  a  partial  escape  from  the 
despotic  injustice,  and  immorality,  of  earthly  governments.  Even 
our  own  country  is  becoming  more  and  more  corrupt.  The  evil 
influences  of  a  sinful  world,  contaminate  the  law-courts,  pervert 
juries,  and  pollute  justice  and  legislation.  The  righteous  are 
persecuted  by  the  unrighteous,  the  honest  by  the  wicked,  and  the 
truthful  by  the  perjurers. 

The  time  has  come,  when  Christians,  and  all  moral  persons, 
may  openly  claim  exemption  from  the  tyranny  and  injustice 
of  their  worldly  oppressors,  and  may  modestly  petition  for  the 


514  BK.  V.      COMMUNISM.      IV.   II.  VII. 

privilege  of  showing  to  the  world,  their  faith  in,  and  the  real 
virtue  of,  their  divine  principles. 

The  revivification  of  Christianity,  in  modern  times,  is  becoming 
more  and  more  the  revivification  of  Christian  Communism  ;  and 
this  involves  a  chartered  freedom  from  earthly  control ;  so  that 
moral  societies  may  govern  their  own  members ;  for  only  thus 
can  men  really  govern  themselves.  All  other  forms  of  so-called 
self-government,  are  only  delusions ;  and  instead  of  men  govern 
ing  themselves,  they  are  governed  by  the  professional  politicians, 
and  their  "rings":  and  therefore,  the  churches  are  subject  to  the 
civil  power  in  those  respects. 

It  is  very  desirable  that  the  laws  of  the  land,  should  fully  re 
lease  all  members  of  religious  peace-societies  and  Communities, 
from  all  claims  for  any  kind  of  involuntary  service,  in  military 
affairs.  The  civil  power  has  never  had,  from  God,  any  power 
to  judge  for,  and  order  Christians  to  fight;  and  the  time  is 
coming,  when  such  assumptions  can  only  be  looked  upon,  as  out 
rageous  invasions  of  the  rights  of  private  conscience. 

And  just  as  much,  does  the  great  moral  sacrament  of  marriage, 
need  to  be  delivered  from  political  control,  and  placed  among  the 
voluntary  and  religious  duties ;  excepting  of  course,  the  duty  of 
maintaining  offspring,  and  the  reasonable  preferences  due  to  the 
woman,  as  being  the  principal  loser  by  &  first  divorce.  All  this 
can  be  done  only,  or  far  best,  in  Communities.  In  them;  the 
civil  and  social  right  of  divorce,  left  to  Individual  judgment  and 
conscience,  under  the  moral  rule  of  the  permanent  obligation  of 
marriage,  so  long  as  it  could  possibly  be  made  happy, — and  even 
in  divorce,  to  continue  bound  for  the  children, — would  tend  to 
prevent  hasty  or  injudicious  marriages :  and  thus  would  purify 
the  marriage  relation ;  just  as  deliverance  of  the  church  from 
alliance  with  the  state,  purified  it,  and  ennobled  religion.  And 
there  would  be  much  fewer  divorces,  under  the  proposed  system, 
than  under  the  present;  especially,  after  the  young  had  been 
trained  up  to  take  care  to  fit  themselves  for,  and  to  deserve,  per 
manency  in  marriage.  • 

CHAP.   VII.    THE   KINDS   OF  PERSONS   NEARLY   READY. 

The  successful  Communities  are  loaded  and  worried,  with  the 
great  number  of  applications  for  membership.  But  they  do  not 


USES.  PERSONS  NEARLY  READY. 

feel  called  to  devote  as  much  attention  to  them,  or  to  the 
discovery  of  suitable  tests,  as  seems  to  us  advisable.  A  full 
enumeration  of  all  the  important  classes  of  persons,  that  would 
be  immediately  benefited  by  Communism,  would  require  a  re 
consideration  of  all  the  preceding  parts  of  this  essay.  The  fol 
lowing  only  will  be  added  : — 

Persons  who  so  love  truth  in  common  or  daily  life,  as  to  be 
determined  to  speak  it,  and  to  live  where  they  can  have  it 
spoken  to  them :  persons  who  deeply  desire  to  have  their  Fami 
lies  nurtured  and  trained,  with  the  advantages,  but  without 
the  vices  and  temptations,  of  civilization ;  this  is  the  most  im 
portant  of  all  the  general  uses : — Orthodox  and  conservative 
people,  who  are  in  sympathy  with  reform ;  persons  earnestly 
desirous  of  being  saved  from  sin,  or  of  doing  to  others  entirely 
as  they  would  be  done  by;  students  and  business-people,  de 
sirous  of  consecrating  themselves  to  God;  those  having  sym 
pathy  for  the  limited  wages,  and  real  temptations  of  women ; 
foundlings ;  those  who  have  been  deeply  crossed  in  love,  or 
whose  married  life  is  unhappy ;  religiously  benevolent  persons 
of  wealth  or  talent ;  professional  business  men,  with  too  much 
conscience  for  this  world ;  work-people  of  moral  and  industrious 
habits,  but  without  sufficient  tact  or  administrative  ability,  or 
with  too  numerous  a  family  to  "  succeed"  in  life ;  married  per 
sons  unable  to  live  moderately  of  their  own  accord,  under  the 
usual  customs ;  intelligent,  good  and  orderly  young  lads  and 
misses,  who  desire  or  need  early  marriage;  persons  willing  to 
make  sacrifices  for  good  health  and  morality ;  persons  in  various 
ranks,  desiring  to  lead  good  lives,  but  conscious  that  their  fail 
ure  comes  from  opposing  circumstances ;  persons  who  have  had 
enough  of  this  "life";  persons  whose  early  peculiarit:es,  or 
subsequent  circumstances,  have  left  them  with  few  friends  or 
acquaintances;  and  in  general,  all  those  whom  society  in  its 
fashions,  follies,  and  moral  nonsense,  would  trample  on  singly ; 
those  who  are  tired  of  the  trickery  of  the  world;  politicians 
disgusted  with  bribery  demagogism  and  war,  and  so  on.  And 
doubtless  there  are  many  other  persons  ready,  could  they  only 
get  knowledge  of  each  other,  and  see  the  evidences  necessary  to 
entitle  them  to  confide  in  each  other.  Verily  now,  as  of  old, 
publicans  and  harlots  could  enter  the  kingdom  of  God,  before 


516 


BK.  V.      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.    IV.  III.  I. 


the  pharisees ; — the  pharisees,  who  now,  as  of  old,  "  will  neither 
enter  the  kingdom  themselves,  nor  allow  others  to  enter  who 
would." 


SUB-DIVISION   III. 
STATISTICS. 

CHAP.  I.    A  SELECTION  OF  COMMUNES  THAT  HAVE  DISSOLVED, 
IN   THE   UNITED   STATES. 

A  large  number,  say  about  seventy-five  Communes,  have  been 
commenced  and  then  dissolved,  in  the  United  States.  The  fol 
lowing  is  a  selection  of  the  most  interesting  of  them.  See  The 
Circular,  also  American  Socialisms  by  J.  H.  Noyes,  also  Com 
munistic  Societies  of  the  United  States  by  Charles  Nordhoif. 


Alphadelphia  Phalanx,  Mich 

Bishop  Hill  (Jansenites)  Illinois     .... 

Brook  Farm,  Mass 

Hopedale,  Mass.  (Adin  Bailouts)  .... 
Marlborough  Association,  Ohio  .... 
New  Harmony,  Ind.  (Ilobert  Owen's)  .  . 
Nashoba,  Tenn.  (Frances  Wright's)  .  .  . 
North  Am.  Phalanx  (Monmouth  Co.)  N.  J. 

Northampton  Association,  Mass 

Prairie  Home,  Ohio 

Skaneateles,  New  York 

Sylvania  Association,  Pa.  (Alb.  Brisbane's) . 
Spring  Farm  Association,  Wisconsin  . 
Wisconsin  Phalanx 


CHAP.  II.    OF  SUCCESSFUL  COMMUNES,   IN   GENERAL. 

Partial  developments  of  good  Communism,  have  taken  place 
in  all  ages  of  the  world,  and  in  many  countries.  Some  features 
thereof  may  be  found  among  the  Tuscans,  and  among  the  Pit- 
cairn-Islanders ;  and  in  former  governments  of  Paraguay  by  the 
Jesuits.  The  fullest  political  developments,  are  in  Switzerland, 
where  there  are  a  large  number  of  towns  or  townships,  fully 
Communistic  in  many  respects.  The  ancient  Essenes  were  re 
ligious  Communists,  so  also  a  part  of  the  modern  Moravians. 


greatest 
Population. 

i  cars 
Duration. 

450 
1100 

1* 

115 

5 

200 

18 

24 

4 

900 

3 

15 

3 

112 

13 

130 

4 

130 

1 

150 
145 

3} 

2 

50 

3 

100 

6 

USES.    STATISTICS,  CATHOLIC   COMMUNITIES.  517 

CHAP.   III.     CATHOLIC  COMMUNITIES   IN  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

In  the  United  States,  the  Roman  Catholics  have  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  monasteries,  and  about  three  hundred  nun 
neries  ;  altogether,  with  a  membership  of  about  thirty  thousand ; 
but  as  these  are  all  living  a  professedly  celibate  life,  and  are  of 
a  peculiar  religion,  they  seem  not  usually  to  be  cited  as  an  ex 
ample  towards  Communism,  but  rather  are  used  as  an  example 
towards  asceticism;  whereas,  the  real  want  of  human  nature, 
that  now  lies,  and  always  has  lain,  at  the  bottom  of  the  Roman 
recluse  and  celibate  life,  is  the  desire  of  a  higher  life,  in  retired 
association,  namely,  spirituality  in  Communism.  And  our'  Prot 
estant  writers  have  as  much  to  learn,  both  of  the  higher  life, 
and  of  Community-management,  from  the  "  Catholic"  monastic 
writers,  as  from  all  others;  if  only  a  suitable  selection  were 
made.  And  remembering  that  the  thing  really  involved  in,  and 
necessary  under,  the  idea  of  celibacy, — that  is,  necessary,  either 
to  the  higher  life,  or  to  Communism, — is,  not  the  celibacy  or  ab 
stinence  itself,  but  the  subjection  of  all  the  Family-passions  and 
partialities,  to  piety  and  wisdom,  and  to  the  advices  of  persons 
able  to  instruct,  and  manage,  those  who  need  to  be  instructed  and 
managed. 

CHAP.  IV.    PROTESTANT  COMMUNITIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
WITHOUT   REGULAR   MARRIAGE. 

§  1.   The  German  Seventh-Day  Baptist  Monastic  Society. 

The  "  denomination,"  and  the  monastic  society,  arose  together: 
but  the  denomination  once  numbered  several  thousands,  whilst  the 
monastery  never  reached  300,  even  including  outside  members. 
Jacobi  in  "  American  Socialisms,"  confusing  the  two,  speaks  as 
if  the  "colony"  or  the  Community  once  numbered  "thousands." 
The  denomination  is  found,  chiefly,  in  central  and  southern- 
central  Pennsylvania,  and  is  less  numerous  now  than  formerly. 
They  are  a  secession  from  the  Tunkers. 

Their  founder,  Beissel,  adopted  seventh-day  views,  in  1725 ; 
and  finding  little  tolerance  among  his  denomination,  he  retired, 
secretly  and  alone,  to  a  neighboring  cell  abandoned  by  some 
previous  hermit.  After  some  years  he  was  discovered.  Other 
Tunkers  gradually  settled  around  him  ;  and  thus,-in  A.D.  1733, 
at  Ephrata,  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  arose  their  monastery :  just  as 


518  BK.  V.      LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  III.  IV. 

the  first  monasteries  had  arisen,  in  the  early  Christian  ages.  It 
adopted  the  Capuchin,  or  white  friar's  garb ;  both  sexes  residing 
together,  as  celibates,  but  without  any  vows.  It  was  a  Limited 
Community  of  labors  and  incomes,  not  of  capital,  although  some 
threw  in  all  they  had,  of  course.  "The  property  which  be 
longed  to  the  society,  by  donation,  and  the  labor  of  the  single 
brethren  and  sisters,  was  common  stock ;  but  none  were  obliged 
to  throw  in  their  own  property,  or  give  up  any  of  their  pos 
sessions."  (See  Rupp's  Hist.  Relig.  Denom.  U.  S.)  The  outside 
or  neighboring  membership,  married,  and  were  aided  in  so  doing, 
and  some  inside  members  occasionally  left,  and  were  married ; 
but  they  considered  celibacy  as  more  conducive  to  holiness,  and 
entire  consecration  to  God. 

The  denomination  grew,  but  the  Commune  did  not ;  but  rather 
dwindled ;  until  now,  it  perhaps  does  not  contain  a  dozen.  But 
another  of  their  Communes  has  started,  namely,  at  Snowhill, 
Franklin  Co.,  Pa.;  and  probably  numbers  about  40  inside 
members. 

In  religion  they  are  Trinitarian  Baptists,  but  are  "  open  com 
munion."  They  had  a  Sabbath  school  from  about  A.D.  1745  to 
1777,  and  were  a  more  liberal  people  than  the  Tunkers,  except 
perhaps,  that  we  do  not  find  any  mention  among  them,  of  the 
final  restoration  of  all  Mankind,  as  among  the  Tunkers.  They 
have  also  declined  much,  in  spirit  and  zeal.  NordhofF  omits  all 
notice  of  them,  even  in  his  map.  But,  notwithstanding  a  few 
omissions,  Nordhoff's  book  on  the  Successful  Communities  in 
the  United  States,  was  very  much  wanted,  and  is  very  cheerful. 
For,  of  all  the  sad  books  that  you  will  easily  find,  the  saddest,  is 
the  series  in  The  Circular,  afterwards  published  as  "American 
Socialisms ;"  because  their  scope  and  plan  give  so  little  attention 
to  most  of  the  Communes  that  did  succeed.  But  sadder  than  it, 
are,  the  record  of  the  dissolution  of  Bishop  Hill ;  the  decline  of 
the  Ephrata  Community,  and  of  the  Zoar  Commune ;  and  the 
stolid  pertinacity  with  which  the  New  Harmony  society,  already 
dwindled  from  800  to  110,  still  persists  in  refusing  to  marry,  or 
to  perpetuate  so  noble  and  pious  a  people. 

§  2.  The  Shaker  Societies. 

The  Shakers  have  associations  in  Maine,  New-Hampshire, 
Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New- York,  Ohio  and  Kentucky; 


USES.     STATISTICS.     PROTESTANT,  WITHOUT   MARRIAGE.       519 

with  headquarters  at  New  Lebanon,  Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.  The 
Society  was  founded  in  1792,  with  nine  members.  It  reached  its 
highest  number  in  1824,  namely,  4500.  Its  present  number  is 
2400.  They  have  eighteen  villages,  and  each  village  is  divided 
into  Sub-societies,  or  "  Families,"  living  in  different  buildings, 
so  that  every  Family  consists  of  about  seventy-five  persons. 
Both  sexes  reside  in  the  same  building,  but  at  different  ends  of 
it.  They  believe  that  Christ  is  both  male  and  female,  and  that 
the  female  appeared  in  Ann  Lee,  their  founder.  They  believe  in 
continual  communion  with  spirits.  They  are  strictly  celibates, 
yet  keep  their  two  sexes  more  or  less  together  ;  worship  together, 
and  join  in  their  worship-dance  together,  each  sex  in  alternate 
rows.  The  different  sexes  visit  and  converse  occasionally,  espe 
cially  on  Sunday. 

§  3.  The  New-Harmony  Society. 

This  Society,  at  Economy,  Pa.,  was  founded  in  1805,  with  700 
members.  Its  highest  number  was  in  1820,  when  it  reached  800. 
Its  present  number  is  110.  Its  greatest  use  in  the  world  seems  to 
have  been,  in  furnishing  members  as  a  nucleus  for  the  Bethel  and 
Aurora  Communes,  presently  to  be  mentioned.  They  believe  that 
God  is  dual,  male  and  female;  that  Adam  was  dual  also,  and 
that  original  sin  consisted  in  Adam  desiring  to  have  the  female 
separated  from  the  male.  They  believe  in  the  early  coming  of 
the  Millennium,  and  the  final  salvation  of  all  Mankind ;  but  after 
a  future  probation  and  purification,  for  ordinary  sinners.  They 
are  a  pious,  moral,  and  upright  people ;  but  bear  every  evidence 
of  being  near  their  end,  unless  they  adopt  numerous  children. 
The  two  sexes  intermingle  freely  in  society,  and  in  industry,  but 
sit  apart,  in  worship.  They  are  conscientious  celibates. 
§  4.  The  Oneida  Community. 

This  Community  has  three  united  associations,  one  at  Oneida, 
N.  Y.,  one  near  it,  at  Willow  Place,  and  one  at  Wallingford, 
Conn.  As  their  statistics  are  scattered  through  many  volumes, 
we  shall  have  to  give  them  from  memory.  The  association  began 
about  A.D.  1838,  with  6  or  8  members,  as  a  partnership,  or 
Commune  only  of  incomes  and  labors.  But  in  1846,  with  about 
40  members,  it  guardedly  began  its  Restricted  Communism  of 
persons,  as  well  as  property.  Although  Mr.  Noyes  himself  ab 
solutely  repudiates  the  term  Communism  as  applicable  to  them 


520  BK-  v-     LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  III.  V. 

previous  to  this  time,  namely  1846.  But  that  seems  to  be  merely 
because  he  rejects  Limited  Communism.  Its  highest  numbers 
were  about  A.D.  1868,  consisting  of  a  little  over  300.  Its  present 
number  is  given  by  NordhofF,  as  283,  and  by  its  own  weekly 
paper  "The  Circular/'  at  269.  But  Nordhoff's  is  probably  the 
correct  number.  Much  of  the  time,  the  members'  experience 
or  life,  is  the  same  as  the  celibates',  at  least  so  they  claim ;  and 
includes  continence  of  a  very  peculiar  kind.  It  believes  in  per 
fection  from  selfishness  and  sin;  and,  in  communion  with  Christ, 
and  the  primitive  Church  of  Saints,  who  it  believes  were  raised 
from  the  dead  about  A.D.  70 ;  that  is,  previous  to  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem ;  and  that  Christ's  second  coming  occurred  then ; 
but  yet,  that  he  will  have  a  future  or  third  coming,  to  raise  the 
rest  of  Mankind.  It  believes,  like  the  Shakers,  that  God  is  male 
and  female,  and  that  Christ  is  the  female  thereof.  The  members 
publicly  "criticise"  one  another's  errors,  with  fearful  plainness; 
and  even  think  to  cure  their  diseases  by  deep  criticism,  and  by 
faith  and  prayer. 

Besides  the  foregoing  Communes,  there  are  a  few  other  Families 
in  the  United  States,  attempting  to  be  Communes;  but  as  yet, 
are  not  large  enough  to  need  particularizing  in  this  hasty  sketch. 
See  Nordhoff;  and  "The  Circular,"  and  other  publications,  for 
the  last  several  years. 

CHAP.  V.    COMMUNITIES    IN   THE    UNITED   STATES,  WITH    REG 
ULAR   MARRIAGE. 

§  1.  The  Icaria  Association. 

Icaria  in  Iowa,  was  commenced  in  1848,  with  a  "vanguard" 
of  about  70,  brought  to  America  by  E.  Cabet,  a  popular  French 
socialist.  Many  others  gradually  followed  him  to  Illinois,  so  that 
the  highest  number  ultimately  reached  1500,  according  to  Nord- 
hoif:  ("American  Socialisms"  says  365).  But  they  rapidly 
declined.  The  remnant,  about  55  persons,  removed  to  Iowa  in 
1856.  Their  present  number  is  about  65.  They  are  nearly  all 
French,  and  Deists;  their  principal  religion  is  Communism. 
They  require  marriage,  or  as  Nordhoff  says,  "  command  it  under 
penalties" ;  and  avoid  a  Unitary  Home ;  both  of  which,  seem  to 
be  very  wise  provisions  in  a  deistical  Commune. 


USES.    STATISTICS.     PROTESTANT,  WITH   MARRIAGE.  521 

§  2.  T/ie  Bethel  and  Aurora  Communities. 

For  the  Statistics  of  this  Community,  we  rely  upon  Nordhoff 
alone,  as  we  do  not  find  them  mentioned  by  anybody  else. 

This  Society  exists  in  two  associations,  Bethel,  Shelby  Co., 
in  Missouri,  and  Aurora,  near  Portland,  in  Oregon.  The  Com 
munity  was  founded  in  1844  by  a  Dr.  Keil,  with  a  considerable 
number,  (probably  about  200?)  followers,  who  had  seceded  from 
the  New-Harmony  association,  on  account  of  its  celibacy;  and 
adopted  marriage.  They  soon  increased,  and  now  number  about 
600.  They  are  Germans  and  "  Pennsylvania  Dutch,"  and  in 
their  religion  are  as  near  like  Hicks-dox  Quakers,  as  could  easily 
be,  except  that  they  use  the  Bible  much.  They  also  are  peace- 
men,  have  weekly  Sunday-School,  and  semi-weekly  preaching. 
They  remind  one  forcibly  of  the  Hicks-dox  Community,  "  Prairie 
Home,"  in  Ohio,  mentioned  in  "  American  Socialisms," — began 
in  1843  with  about  130  members,  but  lasted  scarcely  one  year; 
and  having  very  little  order  or  authority,  but  dependent  chiefly 
on  moral  suasion,  and  on  the  feeling  of  what  is  right,  in  each 
Individual.  But  Bethel  and  Aurora  have  a  leader,  who  is,  at 
least,  a  Bible-politician,  and  a  doctor ;  and  many  of  their  original 
members  had  been  disciplined,  for  years,  in  a  well-regulated  and 
pious  Community ;  namely,  the  New-Harmony  Society.  See 
Ch.  IV.  §  3.  And  then,  they  are  a  plain,  unambitious,  "  Dutch"- 
like  people ;  and  expect  all  to  work  industriously.  They  even 
allow  seceded  members  to  reside  among  them.  They  have 
but  little  education,  and  use  but  few  books,  except  the  Bible. 
They  marry  early ;  do  to  others  as  they  would  be  done  by ;  and 
are  contented  and  prosperous.  They  are  the  most  perfect  speci 
men  that  we  know  of,  of  a  common-sense,  practical  and  upright 
Community,  not  founded  on  either,  any  particular  religious,  or 
anti-religious  ideas. 

§  3.   The  Zoar  Separatists'  Community. 

This  Society  is  in  Tuscarawas  Co.,  Ohio,  and  was  founded  in 
1819,  with  about  225  members.  It  reached  its  highest  number 
in  1840,  about  600.  Its  present  number  is  about  300.  They 
are  Germans,  have  but  little  education,  live  close  to  nature,  and 
use  homeopathy.  In  religion  they  are  very  like  the  Orthodox 
Quakers,  and  were  aided  considerably  by  the  Quakers,  in  their 
emigration  from  Germany.  Poverty  compelled  them  to  abstain 


522  BK-  v-      LIMITED    COMMUNISM.      IV.  III.  V. 

from  marriage,  for  the  first  ten  years  of  their  settlement ;  and 
from  the  experience  obtained  then,  they  have  adopted  some  no 
tions  about  celibacy  being  more  pious,  or  commendable,  than 
marriage  ;  although  they  generally  marry,  but  not  early  in  life ; 
and  hold  that  intercourse  except  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  race, 
is  sin.  Their  young  people  frequently  leave  them.  If  they 
would  learn  by  experience,  and  by  their  great  decline  already, 
the  impossibility  of  their  succeeding,  with  some  of  their  peculiar 
notions,  they  might  have  quite  as  glorious  a  success  as,  or  more 
so  than,  Bethel  and  Aurora. 

§  4.   The  Amana  Inspirationists'  Community. 

This  Society  consists  of  seven  small  Communes,  a  few  miles 
apart,  in  Iowa.  It  was  founded  in  1844,  with  600  members.  It 
remained  at  Eben-Ezer,  near  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  several  years,  be 
fore  going  to  Iowa.  Its  present  number  appears  to  be  its  high 
est,  namely,  about  1500,  Nordhoff  says  1450,  although  we  have 
seen  it  set  down  as  3000,  in  some  publications.  They  are  Ger 
mans,  use  homeopathy,  and  publish  a  good  many  books.  Nord- 
hoff  calls  them  Inspirationists.  They,  too,  are  very  much  like 
the  Orthodox  Quakers,  in  religion ;  although  with  less  of  the 
Quietist,  but  with  rather  more  of  the  mystic  elements ;  and  with 
more  subservience  to  their  leaders  as  inspired,  than  either  the 
Quakers,  or  Zoarites.  They  also  hold  to  occasional  sacramental 
communions  of  bread  and  wine.  Their  leaders  occasionally 
administer  caustic,  "  inspired",  public  reproofs,  to  certain  mem 
bers  who  do  not  seem  to  give  outward  proof,  of  being  any  worse 
than  others.  At  such  times  their  leaders  are  pungent  revivalists. 
They  have  marriage,  but  consider  it  as,  generally,  a  fall  from  the 
highest  condition;  and  as  requiring  time  to  rise  again  to  the 
unselfishness  of  the  former  condition.  They  have  several  orders, 
or  grades  of  membership.  They  refuse  American  applicants  for 
membership,  but  get  recruits  directly  from  Germany;  and  with 
their  natural  increase,  perhaps,  are  growing  slowly.  They  will 
probably  be  a  great  society,  some  day ;  and  a  great  example  of 
possibilities.  Governor  Carpenter  of  Iowa,  said  to  the  writer — 
"  they  are  a  grand  success." 

§  5.   The  Erocton  Community. 

This  Society  is  in  Brocton,  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.  It  com 
menced  in  1867.  The  different  accounts  of  its  numbers  are 


USES.     STATISTICS.     PROTESTANT,  WITH  MARRIAGE.        523 

very  conflicting,  varying  from  50  up  to  200.  It  is  partly  Swe- 
denborgian,  with  some  Universalism,  and  with  some  modifica 
tions  and  additions,  made  by  its  founder  Mr.  Harris,  about 
internal  inspiration  and  respiration;  and  claims  to  be  exquisitely 
sensitive  against  the  approach  of  unchaste  persons,  but  yet  does 
not  live  at  all  ascetically.  It  represents  a  transient,  but  active 
and  brilliant,  phase  of  Christian  experience. 

It  was  founded  by  T.  L.  Harris,  (an  ex-Universal  1st  preacher, 
and  attach^  of  the  U.  S.  embassy  to  Japan),  together  with  a 
British  nobleman,  Lawrence  Oliphant,  M.  P.  Its  "  rank  and 
file"  consist  mostly  of  English  people.  The  widowed  mother  of 
Oliphant  joined  it  subsequently.  "  The  Circular"  of  Nov.  24, 
1873,  says  the  Oliphants  have  left  it.  Mr.  Noyes  classes  it  as 
an  offshoot  of  the  spiritual  Communities :  but  that,  perhaps,  is 
because  he  considers  Swedenborgianism  as  Spiritualism.  It  has 
other  members  of  wealth,  or  high  social  position, — Americans. 
Nordhoff  omits  all  mention  of  this  Community,  except  on  his 
"  map  of  Communities."  Yet  "American  Socialisms"  had  dwelt 
upon  it,  at  great  length,  especially  upon  the  probabilities  of  its 
final  success  and  permanency,  or  its  fall. 
§  6.  Conclusion. 

Here  we  may  give  a  reason,  for  having  introduced  into  this 
volume,  so  much  matter  about  Communism  of  any  kind.  The 
justification  is,  that  small  writers  ought  to  be  at  liberty  to  follow 
the  example  of  the  great  ones.  And  nearly  all  the  great  Social 
Scientists  treat  Communism  with  attention  and  respect,  and 
maintain  one  or  another  of  its  elements.  Plato  does  so,  very 
decidedly.  Fourier  does  so,  of  course.  Comte  was  originally 
a  St.  Simon ian.  Spencer  advocates  the  tenure  of  land  by  the 
State.  And  Mill,  all  along  in  his  article  on  Property,  which  is 
his  "Book  II.," — treats  Communism  sympathetically  and  argu- 
mentatively ;  especially  in  his  Chap.  VIII.,  §§  3  and  4,  in 
defense  of  the  Metayer,  in  preference  to  the  Cottier  system; 
and  in  Chap.  I.,  §§  2,  3,  and  4,  on  Communism,  and  Fourierism. 

Few,  though  the  successful  and  regular-marriage  Communes 
are,  yet  we  must  remember,  that  what  some  men  have  done,  and 
are  doing, — other  men  also  can  do.  Even  one  successful  and 
permanent  experiment,  proves  what  can  be  done,  and  prophesies 
what  will  be,  and  gives  hope  and  faith,  in  more  determined 


524  BK-  v-     LIMITED   COMMUNISM.      IV.  III.  V. 

efforts  for  repeated  and  even  grander  successes.  Nor  is  there 
anything  very  peculiar  about  any  of  these  successful  Communes, 
other  than  seeking  the  higher  moral  life,  instead  of  financial  ad 
vantages, — little  other  than  a  Quaker-like  simplicity  of  customs 
and  of  religion,  and  a  Quaker-like  reliance  on  the  inward  spirit. 
In  fact,  there  are  only  enough  religious  peculiarities  about  either 
of  them,  to  suffice  to  hold  a  people  together,  and  isolated  from 
the  world, — during  a  formative  period. 

Let  us  thank  God  for  the  Communities  that  do  exist,  whether 
Catholic,  Protestant,  heretic,  or  infidel ;  and  pray  to  Him  for 
more  of  them.  And  if  this  volume  shall  have  no  other  effect, 
than  a  tendency  to  improve  those  already  existing,  or  to  incite 
to  or  assist  in  forming,  additional  ones ;  it  ought  to  be  a  suffi 
cient  reward  to  the  writer,  for  all  his  toils  and  pains  in  working 
it  out.  But  the  reward  which  he  would  like,  to  hope  for,  is,  that 
it  may  promote  virtue,  liberty  and  harmony,  in  church  and  state, 
both  in  and  out  of  Communism.  For,  the  Rule  is  the  Ideal ; 
and  is  very  brief: — "All  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them :  for  this  is  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets." 

TO)  Oea). 


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LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-50m-9,'70(N9877s8) 458— A-31/5,6 


9  817888 


Wright,  R.J. 
Principle. 


H83 

W9 

18?6 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


